How To Deal
by twifantasy
Summary: Andrea had been lost without Zach, she just hadn't realized it. When they find the Cullens, they know where they belong. With the help of their family, Zach and Andrea map their way through eternity, learning how to live, love, and forgive. Sequel to That Girl, Bet Me, and Leah's Happily Ever After, but can be read alone.
1. Chapter 1

How To Deal

**Prologue: Burning**

I felt the fire coursing through me like a blazing inferno. My arms and legs were finally free of this fiery prison, and I could feel my heart racing the fire towards its last beats. I knew I was dying. Slowly…. _very slowly_…. I was dying. There were knives of flame ripping through my chest, and pulling open my mouth to let the screams out. I knew I was going to hell._ Anyone_ who died like this _must_ be sent to burn in hell.

I felt like I was in a dream where all you want to do is make it stop. It was one of those dreams that you would wake up screaming from in the middle of the night. I'd screamed so loud, and so fiercely, I couldn't understand why I wasn't waking up.

After a while, though, I realized that this nightmare wouldn't stop. There was no waking up this time, and to me, there was no stopping it at all.

I had never thought of how I was going to die. But if I had, I wouldn't have pictured it this way. I was fourteen years old, and had been taken from my parents when I was four. My single-mother aunt had taken me then out of pity. She hadn't wanted me thrown into the system, but she didn't really want me herself. She was a good person, but had never loved me like she loved her own two children.

We lived in an eight hundred square foot two bedroom trailer. I shared a room with her daughter, and her son. They were both older than me, and treated me like I was just a burden. I only got hand-me-downs, and was lucky if I got a smile from any of them. I was small for my age, but I had never been fed right. I was fast, but not an athlete.

If there was one night that I had wished I could go back and do over again, it would be the night I had decided to go for a walk by myself, after dark. It seemed like ages ago since this blazing inferno had begun, but I knew it could've only been a few days.

That night…. That _horrible_, life changing night… I had left my mind behind me, and just walked. I should've known better. The trailer park we lived in was in a rough area, and I knew not to go out after dark.

I couldn't remember much after the initial rush of being grabbed by someone behind me. I had known within the minute that whatever was going to happen to me was going to be bad. We had been flying… going so fast I couldn't see the feet of the person beneath me, and from the position they held me in, I couldn't see their face either.

I don't remember what had happened after that. I had been slammed on the ground, and everything had gone black as my legs snapped beneath me.

I had woken up screaming, just like I was now, with my eyes wide open, looking for something, anything that could tell me where I was. All I could see around me was tall, tall grass, and a few trees surrounding me.

I had had the feeling throughout the whole process that someone was watching me, and that they were just out of my sight. I couldn't move a muscle, and I couldn't lift my head to try and see them. I could hear my screams echoing around me, and I wondered how anyone couldn't have heard them, wherever I was at.

I knew that there was someone next to me. I could feel their presence, and I could hear their screams. I couldn't see through the tall grass to where they were lying, but I knew that they were close.

I was burning. As my heart desperately clung to its last beats, I heard my breathing stop, and the world around me disappeared.

My eyes had closed, and when I opened them, everything around me came into focus. I turned my head to the side, and saw, though several yards away, a young boy staring right back at me.

At that moment, everything changed. Somewhere inside of me, I knew I should've been afraid, but I wasn't. There was something I saw in his eyes, although they were the color of crimson, that I immediately trusted.

"I'm Zach," he said very quietly.

I stared at him for a moment longer, wondering who he was, and why I trusted him so much. "Andrea," I said.

"You two!" A woman's voice called. I saw her emerge from the trees surrounding us. Someone had been there, just as I had expected. "On your feet!" she screeched in a horrible voice. "Do as I say, or pay the price," she said in a quieter tone, yet just a terrifying.

At that moment, the feeling of hatred entered my body for the first time. This woman wasn't good, and I hated her.

And so began my life in a world of hate, vengeance, war, and finally, love.

Zach and I had bonded immediately. We were both lost and confused in this new world, and every emotion we felt was magnified by a tenfold. Patrick and Mary- our creators- taught us only one rule; what they said, was what we did. If they told us to kill, we killed. If they told us to fight, we fought. If they told us to hate, we hated with a burning passion.

The months went by, and with every day came a new challenge, and a new game for Patrick and Mary to play with us. We weren't the only ones who had been newly created, and together, they created their own personal army of slaves. We killed off coven after coven, sweeping through town after town, making our mark on civilization. We took more and more territory, and Patrick and Mary did not believe in coexisting with other vampires. We made them powerful.

In this new world, we were killers. We were the murderers of people with families, and futures, and dreams, just like we had used to have. But there was no fighting off the thirst. That was, so we thought.

Zach and I had been planning our escape for a long time, almost as long as we had been together. The night we saw these new ones- the Cullen's- we knew our chance had come. We had seen them killing animals, and drinking their blood, just like we did with humans. Patrick and Mary never would have admitted it, but they were intimidated and a little scared by these ones that were so different from us. Zach and I did our best to blend in with the others as Patrick and Mary directed us to fight, and watched helplessly as the Cullens tried to make peace with them.

Patrick and Mary turned a blind eye, and ultimately lost their lives, while being responsible for the loss of over ten others. Patrick and Mary hadn't known that this would finally be the fight they lost, but we weren't trained, and were outnumbered by quite a few. There had been several others hiding, just out of sight.

This had been the first, and most critical, fight that Zach and I hadn't taken part in. After the dust had cleared and the bodies had been burned, Zach and I announced our presence to them.

They had been aggressive at first, thinking that we were members of Patrick and Mary's coven that they hadn't killed. As soon as they gave us a chance to explain though, our stories had come flooding out.

"We were both… made like this…" Zach had started. "About a year ago. Um… we… were not the first that Patrick and Mary… changed."

"They were…" I continued. "Well, I suppose you could say they were forming a group of followers. An army of sorts."

"They," said Zach. "Were seeking protection. From what I gathered… they were… nomadic. They were not new at their lifestyle, but quite tired of it. They felt constantly outran by other… covens… And they didn't like that."

"This was not the first time they have ordered us to fight," I said. "Several of us… were already killed off."

We were silent for a second. "So…" A short one with spiky black hair said. "Why didn't you fight this time?"

We both sighed at the same time. "Because we're tired of it!" Zach had told them. "We're tired of killing… humans… vampires… We don't want to live like that."

"You," I said. "You weren't killing like we were. Taking away innocent lives, ripping people's family's apart. You…"

Their leader it appeared, spoke up. "My name is Carlisle," he had said. "Perhaps I can explain." And so he told us about their life style. He explained how he had come about, and about how he had created this lifestyle of killing animals instead of people. He had paused at the end of his speech. "And…" he told us as we listened in shock. "If you're willing… we'd gladly take you in as family."

Zach and I had looked at each other, and I knew we were both thinking the same thing. It had been a while since either of us had heard the word _family_. "Family?" I had repeated.

"Yes," He said. "See, we could take you in as 'foster children.' You could go to High School… even college. But… you must overcome the wanting of blood first. It's non-optional."

Our eyes had been wide as the prospect of being able to go back to a somewhat normal life sank into our brains. "Really?" I had asked.

"Really," Carlisle said with a smile.

"But…" Zach had contradicted. "Wouldn't we be… putting you out or something?"

A woman with caramel colored hair flashed her eyes at us. "Family is not something that put's you out." She told us.

"If you don't mind me asking," Zach had said after a minute. "How do all of you live together without drawing up strange questions?"

Carlisle smiled. "Well, actually, we don't all exactly live together. Carmen, Eleazor, Kate, Garrett, Tanya, and Andrew all live in Denali, Alaska." We found out later that Andrew had just recently married Tanya, and that this was one of the first times that the Cullen's had met him. "Our cover story," Carlisle said, pointing out seven others, "is that Esme and I adopted Emmett, Edward, and Alice when they were babies, or close to it." He pointed out the people he spoke of. "We also have another 'son' named Connor who was adopted as a teenager. Jasper and Rosalie are 'foster children', even though they've already turned 'eighteen'. They pretend to be twins."

I was smiling by that point, seeing how this could work out. "I suppose we should tell you," I started. "That we have a few… abilities… of our own." I gestured toward Zach with my head.

"I can see people's pasts," he told them confidently. "I can get the whole story if I touch them and the general picture if I'm in about a five mile radius of them."

"And I can see the good and bad in people, which helps me know if I can trust them. You are all very, _very_ good," I told them quickly.

"I read minds," the one called Edward blurted out.

"And I see the future," Alice said blandly.

"I can control people's emotions," Jasper announced.

"I'm a mental shield," a girl with brown hair and a beautiful face casually commented. "And I'm Bella by the way."

"I show people my thoughts," A younger looking girl had said. I didn't know what it was about her… but she didn't seem like a normal vampire. I tried not to stare. "And my name is Nessie."

"I can inflict pain upon people," Kate had said in a casual voice.

"And I can tell you what other people's… abilities are," Eleazor announced.

"O…..k," I said with a nod. "I take it there are a few awkward moments in your house?"

"At least once every hour," the one called Emmett assured me.

Zach and I laughed. "Is that a yes then?" Carlisle had asked us. "Will you join us?"

"Yes," we both said, very definitely.

"Then there's something you should know," Carlisle said. And he told us about a girl named Julia, and how she was human, and how she was going to be turned into a vampire soon. Bella and Edward told us their story, and I listened in amazement as they told us that Bella had been human when they had gotten married, and they had had the girl called Nessie. She was half-human, half-vampire. The boy who wasn't here, Connor, had been with Julia at that time on their honeymoon. "So I think," Carlisle concluded. "That perhaps you should go live in Alaska with the Denali's for about a month, until Julia is changed. And that would give us time to spread the story that we are getting new 'foster children.'"

"That's fine with us," I had agreed immediately. "We just want to do whatever it takes to be like you."

And so the battle began.


	2. Chapter 2

Book One

**CHAPTER TWO**

It had been a year and a half since that day, and we had learned so much more about the Cullen's since then.

To start off with, there were only about a million and one changes to the Cullen's life in Forks. The 'original' wolf pack they had told us about had nearly doubled in size. After Nessie had been born, the Cullen's had had a major encounter with the Volturi, or the 'leaders of our world' as they liked to call themselves. At that time, there had been a major outbreak of wolves on the La Push reservation. The names of the wolves were Caleb, Jeremy, Matt, Lucas, Nathan, Kyle, and Wyatt. About six months later, a new, and very different kind of wolf had emerged. His name was Joel. Joel is different because he changed at the age of twenty-one, and not when he was a teenager. He was late because Jacob's dad's younger brother had been his father. Joel had never met his father, seeing as he died before he even knew the girl was pregnant. Joel had grown up not knowing any of his father's family, and none of his father's family knowing about him. Now this is where it gets really weird. Leah Clearwater imprinted on him at the same moment that Joel imprinted on her. It was the first time that this had happened, but certainly not the last. Joel and Leah were now married with four kids; Nicholas Sam, Alexis Jane, Cole Andrew, and Paige Olivia. Sam and Emily were also married with four kids; Jennifer Rose, Brandon Michael, Allison Grace, and Ryan Joel. All of these births had happened at the same time. The wolf gene in these kids was funny that way.

But that's just the beginning. There was also another new wolf in La Push. Her name was Brooke. She was Jared's little sister, and had changed when she was sixteen. She and Embry had imprinted upon each other, in the same way that Leah and Joel had. Brooke had given birth to twins about two years ago. Brooke and Embry had named their babies Madison Grace and Marcus John. Rachel and Paul had a son named Joshua Kyle, and their older daughter was named Kristen Skye. Kim and Jared had a daughter named Kelsey Renee, and their older son was named David Tyler.

Seth Clearwater had imprinted on a girl named Abbey about six years ago. They were now happily married with twins whose names were Elizabeth Grace and Evan Mitchell. A few months after Brooke had changed, twin girls named Lauren and Kaylie had also changed into wolves. Collin and Brady, the ones who used to be the 'kids' of the pack, had imprinted on these girls. And you guessed it, at the same time that they imprinted on them. Collin and Kaylie had a little girl named Anna Nicole, and Lauren and Brady had a little boy named Tyler Jonathon. Lauren and Kaylie also have a younger brother who is officially the newest member of the wolf pack, and whose name is Bryce.

Now here's where things start to get complicated. Jacob and Nessie had married about a year ago, and they now had a daughter named Eila. Eila was the most precious little girl in the whole world, and we all loved her to death. We now lived in Cleveland, Ohio, but we were all planning on flying back to Forks for Eila's first birthday in a couple of weeks. Bryce, the newest wolf, had imprinted on Eila. Bryce was Lauren and Kaylie's younger brother. Edward called it karma, but I knew it must be a little awkward to have Bryce imprint on Jacob's daughter.

If all of this wasn't enough to set my head spinning, the next thing surely was. Just a few months before we had left Forks, the wolf world in La Push had been shaken up and almost destroyed. One night, Sam had found something mysterious in the woods. It had been a pair of bare human footprints just suddenly disappearing. Sam hadn't recognized the scent of these footprints, and had immediately called the rest of the wolves. They were gone for several hours, and Nessie eventually got worried and called us. You see, Julia has the talent of being able to find people. They work sort of like Alice's visions, only she can see all types of people, not just humans and vampires. Julia had searched for the wolves, and had found them.

What she saw was horrendous. They had all been viciously attacked, and were left broken, bruised, and bleeding. We hadn't known much then, but in the months that had followed that, we soon discovered more about these disappearing footprints. You see, the things that had attacked the wolves had been large, supernatural eagles. This was all that the wolves had been able to capture about these things while they were being attacked. But with this bit of information, we had set to work.

It had taken several weeks and almost nonstop work to finally reach a conclusion about these things, but with teamwork, our family had found a legend concerning people that turned into eagles. The Achomawi Indians of Southern Oregon were the only culture that we could find that had a legend remotely relating to humans shape-shifting.

After a series of certain events, the leader of these eagles had come into our presence. He had explained to us about how he had been excluded from his family, and practically exiled from his community. The only reservation for Achomawi Indians was called Alturas, and was located near the Oregon state border in Northeastern California. Their leader's name was Dan, and he had told us all about how he had ordered the others to attack out of pure fear, and intimidation. He was afraid of the wolves. He had apologized, and begged for their forgiveness.

Being the people that they were, not only had the wolves forgiven the eagles almost immediately, they had asked Dan to tell them about the rest of the eagles. Dan explained to them about how some of the eagles were very close to losing themselves. When you stayed eagles for as long as they did, he told us, it was sometimes hard to remember that somewhere inside of you was a real person. He told us that there were about eight girls, and ten guys. After about an hour of talking with Dan, Sam had asked him to bring the rest of the eagles back to meet them. Sam had known that these people had nowhere to go, and Sam wasn't the type of guy who just let someone who needed help walk away.

After much arguing, Dan had agreed to bring the others back. Dan was feeling pretty guilty about his conscience at that time, and I had known that he must have felt very undeserving of this act of generosity. No matter what he felt though, about an hour later, there were eighteen young men and woman standing in front of us.

That's when all hell broke loose. The weirdest of the weird things had happened. Caleb, Jeremy, Matt, Lucas, Nathan, Kyle, and Wyatt had imprinted on Mikayla, Natalie, Jocelyn, Amber, Kaitlyn, Nicole, and Ashley, the eagle girls. _I_ almost couldn't believe it. But that wasn't the end of all of the craziness. The very next day, the oldest eagle girl, Lyssie, had imprinted on a brand new eagled named Michael. Michael was much like Joel in his genes at least, seeing as he was Dan's younger cousin. Just like Joel was Jacob's older cousin.

So all together, the eagles were Dan, Adam, Ricky, Landon, Scott, Alex, Brian, Robert, Corey, Justin, Michael, Lyssie, Mikayla, Natalie, Jocelyn, Amber, Kaitlyn, Nicole, and Ashley.

Everything seemed overwhelming even to me when I put it like that, but hey, it was even hard for me to wrap my head around sometimes.

Today was our first day of High School. It had taken us a while to get moved in and settled up here, and saying good-bye to Forks had been hard. We technically should've been in school a few months ago, but we figured we could always say that we were homeschooled during our moving period. Zach, Connor, Julia, and I were enrolled as freshmen, and Edward, Bella, Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper, and Alice were enrolled as sophomores. We were going to Bay High School; home of the Rockets. I didn't know what this town would bring us, but whatever it was, today would be the start of it. I wasn't nervous, but I did have a little trepidation. I hadn't wanted to leave Forks, but it was time to move on. We just had to deal with it, and start over somewhere else.

The weirdest part for me was looking at my older brothers and sisters being back in High School again. Zach and I had gone to High School with Nessie back in Forks, but the others had gone off in their own different directions. Edward and Bella had made a decision to go to med school when Nessie went into High School, and had graduated after only a few years each. Bella worked as an RN at the Forks Hospital for a while, and Edward became a doctor there a few years after that. It was kind of hard to imagine either of them going back to High School, but here we were; the day had come.

The story had been spread around the city that there was going to be a new Doctor working at the hospital, and that his family was quite large. Jasper and Rosalie were going as twins again, and they would pretend to be foster children. Bella, Julia, and I were going to pretend to be Esme's nieces who had been taken from their drug-addict mother when we were young. Our last name would be Swan, just because it was easy to pick up. Although we didn't really look anything alike, we figured we could always say we had different fathers. Alice, Zach and Emmett were going to pretend to be adopted, and Edward and Connor were going to be the only birth children of Carlisle and Esme. We expected that there would be plenty of whispers and questions, but they would die out eventually.

We didn't know how long we were going to be staying here, but we knew that it would probably be for a lot less time than we stayed in Forks. Cleveland was a massive city compared to the small town of Forks, but that would mean there was even less to talk about. The High School itself had more people in it than the entire town of Forks did. We hadn't decided if we were going to put out the story that we were 'together', but we figured that we'd figure it out as we went along.

We didn't really know what the kids were like here, but we were hoping to be able to just keep our heads down and mind our own business. It was going to be a little difficult today, especially considering it was the middle of the semester.

When we pulled up in Edward's Volvo and Bella's pickup that we had bought a few years ago, we didn't get to many stares. Our cars weren't out of place at all here, and they blended in quite nicely. I had worn my straight, dirty blonde hair down around my shoulders, and was wearing a plain black t-shirt with faded blue-jeans and sneakers. Nothing fancy, nothing unnormal, nothing that would make me stand out even more.

We stepped out into the crowded parking lot somewhat cautiously, but the stares hadn't started yet. Edward pointed out a building across the way that had a big sign that said 'student affairs' on it. I looked at Zach, and he smiled as we slung our bags over our shoulders and headed towards the student affairs building.

That's when the stares started.

It wasn't something that was just suddenly there, but gradually started as we began to walk further and further into the crowded parking lot. Although the day was cloudy, it was much warmer here than it was in Forks. First it was just one group of kids. They kind of did a double take as we walked past them, but we had disappeared into the crowd before they could get a really good look at us. There were more and more people staring at us the further we walked, and it was a relief when the door to the student affairs building shut behind us.

The office itself was much larger than anything that I had seen while in Forks, but looked a lot like the public High School I remembered going to as a human. There were a few women working behind desks, and a sign that said 'nurse' hanging above a small hallway towards the back of the building.

The woman that saw us first only paused for a second before speaking to us. "How can I help you?" she asked kindly.

"Um…" Emmett said. "This is our first day here. We… thought you could direct us where to go?"

"Right," the woman said. "You're in the right place." She looked over his head. "Oh my, are you all new students?" she asked.

"Yes," Emmett said. "We're Dr. Cullen's children."

"Oh I see," the woman said. "I do believe I heard something about the new doctor having children…"

She opened a file drawer at her feet and flipped through it for a second before she pulled out a large pile of papers. "Okay…" she said. "So I have it here that there are four freshman and six sophomores?"

"Yeah," we all mumbled.

"Alright," she said. "I have a schedule for all of you… This one is for…Connor Cullen?"

"Right here," Connor said.

"You're a freshmen?" she questioned.

"Yes," he said without skipping a beat. Connor _did_ look a little older than fourteen, but we knew he would blend in just fine as soon as people got used to us. The secretary called Julia, Edward, and Alice's name before calling mine.

"Andrea Swan," she said.

I took my schedule from her, and squared my shoulders as I walked out of the office, giving a small smile to Zach. The wind gently blew my hair out of my face as I stepped out into the late April wind. I kept my eyes straight forward as people started to stare at me. I was heading to a freshmen English class. It was honors of course; Carlisle had made sure of that. It wasn't going to be challenging… but I figured it had to better than regular English. I had biology second hour, world history third, French fourth, and Geometry fifth. There was an open campus lunch policy, so at least I could sit in the car if I wanted. I had freshmen P.E. after lunch, and then a journalism elective class. Each period was forty-five minutes long, and we should be home by three each day.

The school's layout wasn't hard to follow. There was pretty much a separate building for each subject; English in one building, math in another, and then there was a massive building with two gyms, a weight room, several cardio rooms, and a few health classrooms in it. The stares were multiplying by the time I walked in the doors of the English building. I found my classroom, and kept my eyes down as the teacher pointed me to an empty seat. I was a little late for class, and I had completely missed orchestra which was zero hour, seeing as it was my first day. The young teacher smiled sweetly at me, and I took my seat.


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER THREE**

That first class was horrible. I could feel a thousand pairs of eyes on me the whole time. No one in this classroom was _bad _particularly, but there were some questionable boys in the back of the room.

Having the talent I did was hard sometimes. It was extremely helpful to know who I could trust and who I could not, but it was sometimes scary. If I got the feeling that someone was bad, which could happen in severe or milder forms, I usually got a little jumpy. Even if it was just some human who had shoplifted, or punched his friend in the face, I was a little frightened. I wasn't exactly a self-confident person; I was very timid. That's why I liked being at home so much. Wherever I went, there was always only good surrounding me. My family was the best thing that had ever happened to me, and just thinking about them made me wish one of them was in this class with me.

It turned out that I had biology with Julia, and her face was comforting, even if it did multiply the stares by two. Julia's talent was a lot like Alice's. Julia could look for people. If she wanted to know where someone was, an image of what that person was doing would pop into her head. She only had to meet them for this talent to work. I spent the rest of the morning thinking about Zach, and hoping I would have at least one class with him. Zach was _everything_ to me. He was my best friend, and my confidant. We had seen a lot together, and we were making our way in this new life together. Not being with him made me worried sometimes, seeing as I was so rarely away from him.

My hopes were fulfilled when I found Zach already waiting in Bella's pick-up when I got there. It looked like we had lunch the same hour. I felt adrenaline in my veins as the thought of seeing Zach filled me with excitement.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey there," he said back.

I climbed into the passenger seat. "How has your day gone?" I asked.

He looked at me and smiled slightly. "Probably about the same as yours has. I was hoping I had a morning class with you though."

"Yeah…" I agreed. I slid my hand into his as I shut the door. "At least we'll always have this hour together though… And tomorrow we'll go to zero hour orchestra together." Zach played the string bass, and I played the violin. We'd started just recently though, it was a spur of the moment decision before we had moved here. "And when we go through drivers ed again we can drive places during this hour," I told him.

"Right," Zach said. "And it looks like it's just going to be us two… Hmph, maybe we'll actually get some privacy once in a while."

I laid my head on his shoulder. "Yeah," I said. I sighed. "Sometimes I wonder how we ever even got to know each other. There's never been a time where it's just us; where there's no one else we have to go home to."

Zach rubbed his hand up and down my shoulder. "Do you ever wonder about what our life would've been like if we hadn't found our family?" He asked me a minute later.

I scoffed. "Yeah," I said. I sighed, and cringed a little. "There's a good chance that neither of us would be here anymore. We were lucky to survive as long as we did in a life like that. War is a place that people are only meant to live in for a short time. We were expected to live in it for the rest of forever… or until we were killed." I pressed my face into his shoulder. "That scares me," I told him.

He wrapped his other arm around me. "That's over now though," he said reassuringly. He leaned his head against mine, a position I knew well. Zach and I had sat like this a million times. It was something I knew he did without realizing it, and that made me smile.

"Do you have anybody in your classes?" I asked him.

"Connor is in Geometry with me, and Emmett had art two when I was in art one. He was on the other side of the room, but he was still there."

"What do you have next?" I asked.

"Freshmen P.E."

I smiled and looked up at him. "That's my next class too. Who's your teacher?"

"Lynch."

"Al_right_…" I said. "We have that class together too."

He smiled. "How are your teachers?"

"Ignorant."

He laughed. "Other than that."

"Well," I started. "They seem nice enough."

"Did you learn anything?" he asked somewhat sarcastically.

"I learned not to trust Julia with an open flame. She almost burnt the friking building down. The other freshmen started screaming."

He busted up laughing. "Why were you guys working with an open flame?"

"We were doing some stupid experiment about food calories or something. She didn't put the peanut we were setting on fire in the holder right and it fell off."

"Were there fire extinguishers?" he asked.

"Oh yeah, the whole sha-bang. The teacher wasn't exactly happy, but he didn't seem like he was ready to expel us."

"That's good."

I sighed. "It sucks that we have to repeat these classes…"

He rubbed my arm again. "It'll be okay," he said. "At least you like Biology."

I scoffed. "Yeah, I like it when I'm actually learning new things…"

"Maybe it will help when you get into harder classes."

I gave him a look that clearly said 'are you kidding me?' and we both burst out laughing. Although what he said had some legitimacy to it. He was one of the only people who knew that I wanted to be a doctor. He was extremely supportive of it, and he knew that doing well in classes like Biology were crucial to getting into med school. Not like that would be any problem for me… Vampire speed applied to my mind as well.

I looked over at the parking lot entrance where cars were pulling back in. "Class is almost over…" I muttered.

He sighed. "Are you ready for freshmen P.E. day one?" he asked.

I smiled. "Let's do this."

We climbed out of the car on our separate sides and I tried to ignore the stares this time. It was raining lightly now, and the feel of the rain on my skin was comforting to me. We made our way over to the physical education building and went our separate ways at the doors to the locker rooms.

I wasn't exactly comfortable with taking off my clothes in front of complete strangers, but I knew that there was no way around it without drawing attention to myself. I had worn an undershirt for a reason today, anyhow. I found my locker number and lock code on my schedule and made my way through the larger locker room to my spot. It was thankfully in a back corner, and there were only a few girls that would be able to see me at all. I pulled my brand new uniform out of my bag and changed quickly and quietly. I pulled back my hair like I saw all the other girls doing, and followed them out into one of the gyms. There looked to be about four classes that met in here at this time; one freshmen class, one sophomore class, one guy's advanced P.E., and one girl's advanced P.E. I saw Zach talking to who I assumed to be Mr. Lynch, and I went to follow suit.

"Name?" he said in a gruff voice.

"Andrea Swan," I said quietly.

"Alright Ms. Swan," he said, glancing at me and then doing a double take. He pointed over by where the other freshmen were sitting in lines; boys on one side, girls on the other "You can take a seat at the back of the last row of girls there. You can do the same Mr. Cullen."

Zach glanced at me and smiled as we split our separate ways. I sat down cross legged where Mr. Lynch had pointed. Several of the girls around me were shooting glances at me from over their shoulders, but I ignored them.

"Alright," Coach Lynch said, and the class quieted down. The other three classes were starting all around the gym. "Today we're in the weight room for lifting. I want you to be with your co-ed partners today. We're going to be doing two sets of eight for the girls, and two sets of ten for the boys."

As we all stood up to leave, the coach told me and Zach to be partners for today. There were no arguments. On our way out, I noticed that Bella and Jasper were in the sophomore P.E. class on the other side of the gym. Bella smiled at me, and I smiled back.

The weight lifting was horrendously easy. I knew that this wasn't so for the other kids, but Zach and I cracked a bunch of jokes about it. We had to pay attention to what the other kids were lifting though, that way we excelled, but didn't lift a ridiculous amount. We had to record what we lifted on a piece of paper, and Lynch told us that we did a good job.

I missed Zach when I was in journalism, much like I had the whole rest of the day. I had a feeling that journalism would be my favorite class, but my longest as well. When the final bell rang I headed to my locker, and Zach met me there.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey," I responded, shutting my locker and turning to face him.

"How was journalism?"

"Fun," I told him. "You ready?"

"Yep," he said.

We headed out of the front doors together, getting only the expected amount of stares. We weren't the last ones in the car, but we weren't the first. Bella and Edward were already in her truck, and I knew that Zach and I were definitely going to be pushed in the back.

"Hi," Bella said as I slid into the backseat. "How was it?"

"I don't like going new places," I answered.

"Why not?" Edward asked.

"Because new places mean new people, and you just never know what you're going to find."

"I see," he said.

"Are you okay?" Zach asked.

I sighed as I planted my head on his shoulder. "I will be."

He squeezed my hand and rubbed his thumb over the back of my hand.

"Well," Bella said with a sigh. "I think that it went rather well, considering the circumstances. I can't believe that they didn't say anything about us not being in school. I guess there's no way they could really know…"

"Yeah…" Edward said. "The secretary didn't even think twice about us. Then again, she's a high school secretary, I'm sure she's seen weirder things than a bunch of kids from the same family coming to high school."

Bella chuckled. "I'm sure."

It took us a while to get out of the school parking lot, but we beat Emmett who was driving the Volvo. Where we lived was just as secluded as the house we had left behind in Forks. It was about a twenty minute drive once you got out of town. We had a house deep in the woods with a backyard that led up to the river. It had cost a fortune, but it was worth it. We were the only house in the area; all the other river houses were closer to the schools. Esme had had a blast renovating it, and that's what we all helped her with when we weren't going to school. The car ride home was mostly silent, but I guessed that Bella was talking to Edward with her thoughts.

As soon as we started winding our way down our driveway, I started to notice a change in the atmosphere. Something was going on… or had gone on. The relaxed, familiar atmosphere of our house was gone, replaced by a stressed, awkward mood.

That's when I caught it.

There was a stiff, vaguely familiar smell rolling up the driveway. I knew that this was the smell of vampires… but I couldn't remember where I had smelled it before. It wasn't the Denali's… or anyone else I had else I could remember meeting.

Edward whipped around in his seat, and motioned for us to come closer. He looked at us, and whispered in such a quiet voice it was almost silent, "Volturi."

My breath caught in my throat.

The Volturi were _here_. In our _home_.

I only had a few seconds to process these thoughts before we were pulling into the garage. I now knew where I had smelled this scent before. When we had first joined the Cullen's, we had been invited to go see the Volturi. Every vampire that the Volturi could track down had been invited into Italy, and there had been more there than I could've ever imagined. We had decided to go more out of pride than anything. The Volturi had given them some trouble when Connor and Julia had first been dating, back when she was human. They had become forceful, and violent even. They had given us an ultimatum to turn Julia into a vampire, and had attacked not only her and Connor separately, but also Nessie. It had been quite traumatic for all of them, but had ended when Julia became a vampire. Our last meeting with the Volturi had been peaceful, yet it still disturbed me as to how much power they had. They were so _bad_.

Edward gave Zach and I a look that clearly said 'follow me' as we got out of the car. He grabbed Bella's hand as we walked in through the door that led to the main floor of the house. The other door led us down to the basement.

The others pulled into the garage as we were going in through the back door. Zach stepped in front of me, and gave me a familiar look. He was trying to calm me down. There was so much bad in our home now… every particle of my body was screaming at me to turn back. Zach grabbed my hand and pulled me through the door behind him, Bella, and Edward. Alice was close to my back.

The sight I saw was unfamiliar, and horrendously absurd.

Several members of the Volturi and their guard, including Aro, Caius, Jane, Felix, Demetri, and Alec, the most dangerous ones, were sitting or standing comfortably throughout our living room. I was so shocked I didn't think I could keep moving, but Zach was pulling me.

Carlisle was speaking when we came in, but looked up when he heard us. "How did it go?" he asked calmly, as if the Volturi sat in our living room every day.

"Fine," Edward answered immediately. "No one said a single word to me all day. At least not the students."

"Good," Carlisle said.

"How was work?" Rosalie asked.

"Alright," Carlisle said. "This hospital is a lot bigger than the one in Forks."

"Save any lives?" Bella asked, half-sarcastically.

"Not directly," Carlisle said. "But it will come. It always does."

There was a moment of silence. No one seemed to know what to do for a second. "Well, be polite," Esme eventually said. "Put your bags upstairs and come sit. They've come a terribly long way."

"Yes ma'am," Jasper said.

We headed up the open stairway that was in the entry way, and to our separate rooms. Zach and I went straight past the second floor where Edward and Bella, Alice and Jasper, and Rosalie and Emmett had their rooms. They each had separate rooms, but they adjoined by two doors. Julia and Connor and Zach and I had our rooms on the third and last floor. Our rooms were a little smaller than the others, but still just as nice. There were plenty of windows throughout the house, especially in the bedrooms. As soon as Zach and I were in our rooms and dropped our bags, he wrapped me in his arms.

The fear inside of me was embarrassing, yet extraordinarily obvious. I hated the fact that bad people scared me, but that's just how I was. Zach knew that. "Sh," he breathed, barely audible. He squeezed me tighter. "There's nothing to be afraid of," he muttered confidently. "I'm here, Andrea. I'll make sure of that. Please don't be afraid."

"I'm trying," I whispered shakily.

"I know," he said. He gave me a peck on the lips, and then started pulling me out of his room. Julia and Connor met us at the stairs which we took at vampire speed. We got down to the living room in time to see Emmett roll over the banister outside his room. He landed at Carlisle's feet, quiet as if a pillow had been dropped.

"Emmett!" Esme scolded.

"Sorry," Emmett said. "I've wanted to try that for a while."

"I told you not to," Rosalie said, smirking at him.

He stuck his tongue out at her. "You tell me not to do a lot of things."

"And should you do them?"

"Nope," he said.

"My point exactly."

Once we were all downstairs, no one seemed to know what to say again. "Okay," Bella said, breaking the silence. "Can someone please tell us what's going on?"

"The Volturi have come for a visit," Esme said. "We have guests."

Bella nodded slowly. "_Right_," she said, drawing out the word.

"Well then," Edward said. "How's Volterra?"

"As beautiful as always," Aro answered. "And you're home is gorgeous by the way."

"Thank-you," Esme said.

"I'm so curious," Aro said. "How do you manage when the weather is clear?"

"We have an alibi," Jasper said. "As far as anyone in this town knows, we go hiking and camping whenever the weather is nice."

"Very clever," Aro said with a smile. He turned to Bella. "May I ask how your daughter is doing Bella?"

His voice was casual, yet we all knew that all he really wanted was to see how she had progressed from the last time he had seen her. "She's doing well," Bella said. Her eyes darted to Edward in a moment of hesitation. "Actually," she said more slowly. "She has a daughter of her own now."

Aro's expression didn't change, but I knew how shocked he must be. "I see…" he said, showing interest. "With that… Jacob, I believe his name was?"

"You're correct," Bella said. "They were married a year last fall."

"What's her name?" Jane said, suddenly speaking up.

Bella's eyes narrowed slightly, but she answered Jane just the same. "Eila," Bella told her. "And she looks an awful lot like Edward."

"How wonderful," Jane said in a monologue.

Bella physically shifted away from Jane, and Jane went back to not looking anyone in the eyes, much like Alec, Felix, and Demetri were doing.

"Edward," Julia said. "You should play for us."

Edward turned his gaze to her. "Or you could," he said with a smirk. Julia was a very good guitarist, and had an amazing voice.

"Or I could not."

"Well one of you _play_," I said.

Edward sighed, and darted the few feet to his piano. He put his hands over the keys, but didn't play anything. "You should play what you were working on last night," Bella suggested.

"I can't yet," he said quietly. "It's not finished."

"What a better time than to finish it here?" Bella argued.

He turned to her. "If you weren't stubborn, I would argue back."

"Ah," Bella said. "But I am stubborn."

Edward rolled his eyes at her and started to play. The beginning didn't sound like anything he wouldn't normally play. It was sad, and beautiful, and sent shivers up my back. The next parts though were more aggressive, firmer, and almost angry. It was stunning.

Edward finished the song just like it had begun. I was the first to speak. "That was perfect," I said. "What's it called?"

He thought for a moment. "Shooting stars," he said. "For now at least."

"Where did you learn to play piano like that?" Alec asked quietly.

Edward turned to face him. "When I was still human, my father had a piano in our home. I was formally taught to play as a child, but I've had a lot of practice."

Alec nodded, and turned away from Edward.

Edward continued to play, but now Bella was the only one really paying attention. We broke off into smaller conversations, but they were forced and uncomfortable. Alice and Jasper were speaking with Jane and Alec, but the conversation was formal and resentful. Connor and Julia got a few decks of cards out, and Zach and I joined Emmett and Rosalie to play a game of nertz, a card game the eagles had taught us. It was like a triple solitaire game, and a ton of fun at the speed we played it.

This went on all night; the awkward conversations, the busy work, the forced politeness. Several members of the Volturi guard didn't say a word the entire time that they were there. All of the badness in the room was eating me alive, but I tried to focus on getting through this visit. I kept telling myself that it was almost over, almost over, though it seemed like it would never end. It was dawn before Aro finally stood up to leave. Caius and his guard followed him like little lost puppies. We said our formal good-byes, and stood by one of the window walls in the house as we watched them go. I didn't smile as they all climbed into a large sedan, but my expression was not unpleasant.

No one said anything as they left. We all stood there silently for a couple of minutes, but for what felt like much longer. Zach had his arm around my waist, and I felt like he was holding me together as the bad drained out of the room like poison, and the goodness came flooding back in. We all seemed to take a collective, reassuring breath as the Volturi's voices disappeared into the noise of the highway. Zach swept me up into his arms immediately. The others started talking all around us.

"You're alright," Zach assured me, rubbing his hand over my back. "They're gone, it's okay, it's over."

It was moments like this when I had flashbacks to our life before this. Every time we attacked another coven, every time we _won_, I felt like the badness of all the hating people around me was penetrating my soul. Zach had been the only thing to keep me sane. He had repeated these phrases over and over again, trying to make me calm. That was, when we weren't being watched by our creators. Zach was a constant source of good for me; he was a constant supply I'd never been without.

I buried my face in Zach's shoulder, and let his soul seep into my mind. He was good, and it was comforting to me. Zach kept holding me, and I let myself be placated. Zach set me back on my feet, and put his hand behind my head, making me look at him. "Are you okay?"

I sighed. "I am now," I told him. "They're gone." I shuddered. "It freaks me out when I'm surrounded by so many bad people. It kind of feels like I'm being sucked into a vortex."

"I'm sorry," Zach said. "At least I don't _have_ to look into people's pasts. I can shut it off."

I shrugged. "I guess I just need to get used to it. Or get better at handling it at least."

He wrapped me in his arms suddenly. "I'm really sorry," he told me. "I wish you didn't have to do this."

I patted his back. "I'll be fine. As long as you're here, I'll be fine."

"I will be," he said. "Always."

The rest of the school year dragged by dreadfully slowly when I wasn't with Zach, and all too quickly when I was with him. No one tried to talk to me at school most of the time, and I liked it that way. There were a lot more people at Bay High School than there was at Forks, so I found it easier to blend in. The Volturi's unexpected visit was still unexplained to us, but we decided to just wait and see if anything came of it. The Volturi usually didn't do anything without a cause, and we were well aware of that. Finals were horribly easy, and that's saying something considering we missed the first half of the semester.

We were going down to Forks at the end of June, seeing as Eila's birthday was toward the beginning of July. We wanted to spend some time down there, but we knew that it wouldn't be a good idea to be seen around town much. I was excited to see everyone again, especially Eila. Nessie or Jacob sent us pictures through email every week, and sometimes even video, but it wasn't the same as seeing them in person. Eila knew our names, even if she couldn't quite pronounce them right. My name came out more like 'an-de-uh' instead of Andrea. It was adorable.

It was rough when all of us were in an airport together. The stares that had dissipated by the end of school were obnoxiously relived at the airport. Carlisle led us calmly through security and baggage check as quickly as he could. We purchased first class seats on the plane so that we could hopefully avoid most of the stares from the other passengers, and the cramped, very human-smelling coach area. The wait for the plane to take off wasn't long, and the flight was only a couple of hours. We talked for most of the plane ride, but we were all too excited to say anything of much importance.


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER FOUR**

Nessie and Jacob were meeting us at the airport. Eila would be with them, and we rushed our way through baggage and security until we made it to the end of the terminal.

They were standing as close to the gates as possible. Jacob was holding Eila, and I couldn't believe how much she had grown since the last time I saw her. She looked like she was sleeping, but that's all I saw before Nessie saw us.

Her mouth formed into a gigantic smile and she started coming toward us. Bella crashed into her at the half-way point, and wrapped her arms around her. I thought she was going to cry, but I suppose I wouldn't have really known anyways.

"Oh, my gosh Nessie I've missed you," Bella said, rubbing the back of Nessie's head.

"You have no idea," Nessie said, burying her face in her mother's shoulder.

Nessie broke away from her mother and turned to her dad.

"Daddy!" she said as she jumped into his arms. Nessie really was crying now, and Edward swung her around.

"I love you so much, Nessie," Edward said. He held her to him. "So, so much."

"Love you too Dad," she muttered into his shoulder.

Her head shot up and he put her on her feet. "Jacob," she said calmly toward where Jacob was watching their reunion. He looked up, and walked over to us. He still had his sloppy grin, which was at the moment plastered on his face. Eila's small body didn't move as he walked toward us. But he brushed her dark ringlets-Nessie's ringlets-out of her face so we could see her.

She looked beautiful. She had a kind of beauty that couldn't be shown on a camera. Her face was lightly bronzed, with long eyelashes and a face that looked just like her mother's. But her nose was definitely Jacob's. She looked about fifteen months, although it was really only almost her first birthday.

"Hey there strangers," Jacob said.

"Hi," we all said.

Nessie gently woke up Eila by shifting her into her arms. She kissed her on the forehead as she blinked her little brown eyes. "Hey pretty baby," she said. "Look who's here to see you."

Nessie shifted so that Eila's little eyes were pointed toward us. Eila took a moment to comprehend our smiling faces. Then she smiled, and giggled and hid her face in her mother's hair; she was being shy.

We all laughed. Nessie put her mouth by Eila's ear and whispered to her, "Who is that?" She pointed to Bella. Eila giggled again and whispered into her mother's ear "Gamma."

Her voice was soft, just like we heard in the videos. No matter what she looked like physically, her mind was racing ahead of her.

Nessie then pointed to her father. "And who's that?" she said out loud this time.

Eila's little mouth was the mirror image of Edward's smirk. "Papa," she said.

"Yeah," Nessie said. "Good job!"She patted her daughter's sleepy head.

"Let's get out of here," Jacob said.

He was right. We were contracting quite a few stares. We kept our heads down as we walked out of the airport into the freezing, rainy, yet familiar, Forks night.

Jacob and Nessie had both brought their cars so that they would have room for all twelve of us. I don't think there would actually be enough seats, but we'd squeeze. Nessie strapped Eila into her car seat and Zach, Rosalie and I squished in next to her. Emmett took the front seat, and Nessie put her red charger into drive. It looked like Jacob had borrowed Sam and Emily's SUV for the occasion. We were going to be staying at Jacob and Nessie's house, but I knew we would most likely hunt tonight. I didn't know what we'd do for the other nights while they were sleeping, but I was sure we'd figure it out.

"So," Rosalie said on the ride home. "How have you been Ness?"

"I've been good," Nessie said. "I start working full-time for the schools next fall, so I'm pretty excited about that. I can't believe Eila's going to be one though…" She glanced in her mirror so she could see Eila asleep in her car seat. "It doesn't seem like that long ago that she was born. A _lot_ has happened though I guess…" she sighed. "Though come to think of it…. I suppose Jacob and I will have been married for two years in October. That's crazy…"

Emmett shook his head at her. "Not when you think about how many more you'll have."

Nessie smiled to herself. "How long have you guys been married?" she asked Emmett.

"Almost seventy years," he answered.

Nessie shook her head. "You're right," she said. "Two years doesn't seem very long when you compare it to seventy."

"Two's a lot when you compare it to zero though," I said.

"Yes, I suppose it is," Nessie said without missing a beat.

"I told Zach that we should elope," I said. "I think it would be funny."

Nessie laughed. "That _would_ be funny."

"I told her if she would accept a plastic heart ring that you get out of one of those little quarter machines then we can drive to Vegas whenever she wants. Cause let's face it; I'm dead broke."

"I'm thinking about taking him up on that offer if he'll get down on one knee," I told her.

Zach and I _were_ just joking around of course. We both knew that we would get married some day, but we figured we should wait until we graduated from High School. It would just be easier that way. But then again… Neither of us had ever done anything the easy way.

Zach rolled his eyes at me. "We'll get married someday..." he said. He sighed. "Just not right now."

I leaned my head on his shoulder. "Oh, I suppose."

We pulled into Nessie's house then, just behind the others. They had left the front porch lights on, just like we always did. It was a comforting sight. Nessie pulled her car into the garage next to one that Jacob was working on. I could see that it looked like he was doing a nice job as we all filed out of the car.

Nessie unbuckled Eila from her car seat, but Jacob automatically bent down to carry her sleeping form into the house. He nuzzled her warm little body into his massive hot one. She didn't stir as we walked into the house.

"I guess she was tired," Jacob said with a yawn.

"Hm," Nessie said. "That sounds like someone else I know." She gave Jacob a pointed look.

He sighed. "Ness, I'm fine," he said. "If you're going to worry, you should worry about more important things."

"You're pretty important in my book," she argued. "And you need to sleep more."

He rolled his eyes at her sarcastically. "Yes ma'am."

I took a seat next to Jasper on Nessie's couch while she and Jacob put Eila to bed. I looked around her living room. It looked much like it had the last time I had seen it. The biggest difference was that there was a new recliner in the corner of the room that hadn't been there last time. It looked nice.

Nessie came back from Eila's room before Jacob did. "So," said Edward. "Where is dear old Bryce tonight?" I knew he got a kick out of Bryce imprinting on Eila.

"He has patrol," Nessie said. "He's going all night I guess with Caleb. I don't know which eagles are out there… Probably Robert and Corey." Nessie smiled. "He's a pretty big help when it comes right down to it. Especially if I'm by myself and I have to run an errand or something."

"How's Jacob holding up?" Emmett asked.

Nessie rolled her eyes. "Jacob is Jacob," she said. "He won't admit he's tired until he falls asleep before dinner with Eila in his arms." She shrugged. "I'm no good at making him do things for himself."

Jacob came out of Eila's room then. "I do things for myself."

"Name one," Nessie countered.

"I watched a TV show last night," he said.

"You watched the kid's channel with Eila, and you fell asleep after that."

"Exactly," he said. "I fell asleep."

"Sleeping doesn't count as doing something for yourself."

He sighed. "Okay."

She looked at her watch. "Go to sleep Jacob," she said. "It's eleven o'clock at night."

He crossed his arms. "Jeez," he said. "Bringing down the hammer." He cocked a smile at her.

"Yes sir," she said. "Someone's got to."

He stretched his arms upward until they reached the ceiling of the living room. "Fine," he said. "Good night then."

"Good night," we all said at once. He shut the door to their bedroom behind him. Nessie sat down on the floor in front of us. "So how's school?" she asked.

"Over," I said. "At least for the summer."

She nodded. "I suppose that's good." She tilted her head to the side. "Any more surprise visits from the Volturi?" We had told her about them coming unexpectedly of course.

"Haven't heard a word from them since," Carlisle said. "Unfortunately, that's what makes me worry."

Nessie eyes stared straight ahead. "I don't ever want them to meet Eila." She shook her head. "They shouldn't ever have to."

There was a buzzing from the counter in the kitchen. Nessie stood up. "Who would be calling Jacob at eleven o'clock at night?"

_His pack_, I thought. Nessie answered his phone without looking at the number. "Hello?" she said.

I heard Caleb's voice on the phone. "Nessie!" he said, sounding panicked. "Where's Jacob?"

"He's asleep," she said quickly. "What's going on?"

"There's been an accident," Caleb said after a second.

"What the hell do you mean 'there's been an accident'?" she said.

He took a deep breath and I heard a low noise from somewhere near Caleb. Caleb breathed in. "There was a hunter, Ness," he said.

We were all sitting up ramrod straight now. Every piece of concentration I had was focused in on listening to see what had happened. "Oh my god…" Nessie said after letting her air out. "Caleb, answer me right now; is Bryce okay?"

"No," Caleb said immediately. "No, he's not." I could hear in his voice that he was panicking a little. "Nessie, he got hit. We were being careless… we didn't see the guy. We didn't even see him… I don't know where he went… I don't know if he saw us…" Caleb was in full panic mode now. "He's not okay, Nessie," he said. "He's not okay at all…"

"Where are you?" Jacob said as he came out of his and Nessie's room. He must have heard what was going on.

"We're right over the old treaty line, but we're way up by Port Angeles…" he let out his air quickly. "Oh my god…" I could hear Bryce moan again, recognizing the sound this time.

"Caleb!" Jacob said sternly. "I'm coming up there right now. Listen to me!" he said seriously. "You _will_ stay calm."

Jacob was out the door in the next second. "Caleb," Nessie said more calmly. "I'm going to call Sam, and get him up there with you alright? You tell Bryce he'd better hold tight…" Nessie looked up all of the sudden as if she was just remembering that we were there. "Wait…" she said. "What am I thinking?"

She met Carlisle's eyes. With one nod, he headed out the door behind Jacob. "Thanks…" Nessie muttered. "Carlisle's on his way Caleb, I have to call Sam…" she hung up the phone and started dialing.

"Andrea…" Edward looked over at me. I knew what he was thinking… He wanted me to go with Carlisle. He wanted me to see what it was like.

I glanced at Edward, then looked back down at my feet. "This is what opportunity looks like," Edward said. Everyone was looking at us now.

"I'd be in the way," I said. My mind was telling me to stay, and I was trying my hardest to listen to it. This would be dangerous.

"No," Edward said. "Not if I came too. Come on…" he was already on his feet.

I was fighting against this idea inside myself. I _couldn't_ go, not thistime.

But in one moment, Zach squeezed my hand, and I knew that I was losing. _He_ wanted me to go…

I took one deep breath in through my mouth, and I got to my feet. I tried to keep my head, but it was hard. There would be blood, and probably lots of it. I fought the panic inside of me, and threw caution to the wind. I _would_ do this. And when I made my mind up about something, that's what was going to happen.

"Right," I said with a nod. "Let's just… go…"

Edward nodded, and I saw his smirk as he headed out the door.

I turned to look at Zach. I knew that he knew I was worried. He met my eyes. "You'll be fine," he said confidently. "Seriously Andrea, come on, just go… You'll regret it if you don't."

"But," I shook my hands in frustration. "I don't want to hurt him…"

"You won't," Zach said immediately.

"I'm worried," I admitted.

"I'm not," Zach said confidently.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Whatever you say…"

I bolted out the door before I could think of another reason why I shouldn't go. I could follow Edward, Carlisle, and Jacob's scents very easily, but it wasn't long before I started picking up other scents. I knew Sam was somewhere to my left, but I wasn't sure how close he was. It seemed like seconds before I could smell the blood, but I knew that it must have been longer than that.

I braced myself before I burst through the last of the trees, trying to picture Zach's face in my head to keep me focused.

Bryce was a mess. It looked like I had gotten there right after Sam, because he seemed to still be taking in the situation. Caleb was standing off to the side, looking pretty traumatized. Carlisle was kneeling down by Bryce, as was Edward, and that's when I saw Bryce. It looked like the bullet had gone right in on his right side.

It was a strange wound. It looked like it was half-healed already, but there was blood everywhere. Carlisle was gently poking at the wound, probably trying to find the bullet. Bryce had his eyes squinted shut, and he was breathing pretty hard.

"Bullet's pretty deep…" Carlisle muttered. He seemed to ponder for just a second. "We need to move him," he said decisively.

"Bring him over to your old house," Sam said immediately. "I'll run ahead and let them know that we're coming…" The eagles currently lived in our old white house, and we were glad it was getting good use.

"Right," Carlisle said. Sam was gone in the blink of an eye, pulling Caleb along behind him. It was just us, Jacob and Bryce now. "Okay," Carlisle said. "We're going to move you Bryce, you just hang in there."

Carlisle gently scooped Bryce into his arms, but Bryce still winced at the movement. We were off and running after that. Sam and Caleb beat us back to house, and had gotten everyone out of the way. They had the bedroom on the bottom floor open, and they brought Bryce in there. I tried to stay outside the door, but Edward gave me a look and pulled me in right behind him.

"Just watch," Edward muttered to me. "You're fine."

I didn't know what alternate reality he was living in, but in my opinion, I was in no way shape or form fine. My throat was burning, and I was _scared_. I was scared _to death_ that I was going to hurt Bryce. I'd never really pushed myself this far before, and it was terrifying.

I put my hand on the door jam, and imagined that I could hold myself there. I tried to focus on something else. I thought about Bryce, and how important it was that he be okay. There would be a lot of people who missed him if he was gone, Eila being one of them. The thought of that little girl being sad made me want to cry.

Right then, I knew that I _had _to be okay. I couldn't freak out. Killing was wrong, no matter what intents or purposes. Killing someone as young as Bryce was practically as good as sending yourself straight to hell. Hurting Eila like that _wasn't_ an option. If she was hurt, so were her parents. The path of destruction I would leave in my path wouldn't stop with just Bryce, and I refused to let that happen.

I watched Carlisle work, and I could see how much he loved it. I could see how easily he could forget about all of the blood and just focus on the patient. I could see _myself_ doing that. They had Bryce lying on his left side, and he looked like he was terrified, not to mention in a lot of pain.

Jacob was knelt down next to Bryce's face, trying to talk to him and comfort him.

"You're going to be okay," Jacob was saying.

"How do you know?" Bryce asked.

I had an answer to that one. I knelt down right next to Jacob. Bryce looked like he had just realized I was there. "Because," I said. "I'm as stubborn as hell, and I just decided you're going to be." I took a deep breath in through my nose and tensed. I looked Bryce in the eyes to try and steady myself. "And trust me, if _I'm_ going to be okay, you sure as hell better figure out a way to be."

Bryce nodded at me, and I forced myself to stay close to the blood. I watched Carlisle carefully. He was gently breaking the skin where it had started to heal over the bullet. Edward was trying to contain the blood flow as much as possible.

"Does it hurt to breathe?" Carlisle asked Bryce.

"Yes," Bryce said.

"Try to breathe shallowly then, alright? Short, quick breaths."

Carlisle looked like he was having the most trouble getting to the bullet because the wound kept trying to heal over it. After about ten minutes though, I heard the metal tweezers Carlisle was working with hit something solid.

After that it looked like it was as quick and easy as breathing for Carlisle. He pulled the bullet out in one quick movement, and Bryce winced. Jacob was still talking to Bryce, but I wasn't listening. Edward took the small, deadly piece of metal from Carlisle and set it aside. "Alright," Carlisle said, turning back to the wound. "The worst is over." He looked into the wound, moving it slightly with the tweezers. Bryce bit his bottom lip. "I don't think I can do much to make that heal any faster," Carlisle said. "It's healing rather quickly…" he pondered what to do for a moment. "You're going to be sore for a while…" Carlisle said. "And there's definitely some muscle damage, but nothing that will be permanent." Carlisle dug around in the bag that he usually carried. He pulled out a small bottle. "We're in luck," Carlisle said. "I only have a little bit of morphine with me, but enough to take the pain away enough for you to sleep."

Edward poured the addicting medication into a syringe. "I'm going to put it into your arm okay Bryce?" he said.

"'Kay," Bryce said quietly.

The morphine seemed to give Bryce almost immediate relief. It was only about ten minutes before his eyes were drooping and his breathing slowed from panting to a calmer pace.

As soon as he was asleep, I stood up and made myself walk calmly from the room. If I'd had it my way, I would've bolted out of there full speed ahead.

When I came out of the small room, I saw all of the eagles sitting there in their living room; waiting to see what had happened. Caleb was there of course, as was Sam, and I'm sure they had filled in all the details about what had happened.

I wasn't used to having so many people look at me, and I cowered back a little. Edward came out behind me and put himself between me and all of the curious eyes. "He's okay," Edward said. "Or he will be in twenty-four hours time."

I saw them all relax at once. I thought it was funny how these two different groups of people, two different tribes, two different… breeds, were so much alike. They each had a leader, and they each had their own place in the pack. The eagles were so different from the wolves, yet so much the same. I saw so much good in all of them; I couldn't help but feel safe and happy.

Edward turned to me then. "Are you okay?" he asked.

I felt all of the eyes shift to me again. I blinked, and sighed. I leaned against the wall and slumped down onto the floor. I pulled my knees to chest. "I will be," I said.

Edward nodded. "I wasn't as okay as I thought I was going to be."

I gave him a questioning look. "What do you mean?" I asked.

He sighed. "I guess it's harder if you're away from it for a while."

I nodded, and leaned my head forward and covered it with my arms. "How do you do it?" I muttered.

Carlisle came out of the room then with Jacob. "Determination," Carlisle said. "And stubbornness."

I scoffed. "I think I'm pretty much covered on the whole stubbornness part."

I heard footsteps outside the front door and lifted my head to see who was here. Wyatt crashed through the door a moment later. He looked wet, tired, slightly panicked, and extremely worried. "What happened?" he asked loudly. "All I know is Bryce got shot…"

"He's okay," Edward said before Wyatt could go any farther. "It wasn't that bad."

Wyatt's shoulders dropped. "Why do I always get only half of the story?"

"Because you only listen half of the time," Sam said.

Wyatt held up a finger in concurrence. "Point taken."

He went and sat down in the window seat by Ashley. They were generally speaking hilarious together. I had gathered in the short amount of time that I had known Ashley that she was extremely smart, and very quiet. Her sense of humor was highly sarcastic, and it cracked me up. Wyatt's humor was pretty straight forward, so they made the perfect mix.

Edward's cell phone rang and he answered on the first ring. "Hello?" he said.

"Hi." It was Bella's voice that I heard. "Is he okay?"

"Yup," Edward said confidently.

I heard Bella sigh. "Good," she said. "Because Eila woke up about an hour ago crying her eyes out. She was convinced that Bryce wasn't okay. She's still pretty upset."

"Wow," Edward said. He looked behind him for half a second at Carlisle. "Why don't you tell Nessie to bring her over here? I'm sure Bryce would be more than happy to see her."

I heard Bella suggesting the idea to Nessie. I heard them discuss in low tones, but I couldn't quite make out what they were saying. "Alright," Bella said after a minute. "She's going to run her over there."

"Okay," Edward said. "Tell her to follow Wyatt, that'll get her here the fastest way."

"Right," Bella said. "I'm coming with, and I'm bringing Zach because he's freaking out."

"'Kay," Edward said. "Love you, bye."

I leaned my head back so it hit the wall and felt a smile spreading across my face. "Wasn't he the one telling me everything was going to be okay?"

"Yup," Edward said. "And I'm highly convinced that the second you left he started worrying about you."

"He _would_," I said.

There was a beat of silence. "You guys should get married," Edward said randomly.

"Jeez Edward," Carlisle said. "Give them a second to breathe."

"Ah," Edward said. "What are you guys waiting for?"

I looked at him and raised my eyebrows. Several people were silently cracking up. "I'm waiting for Zach to ask me," I said.

"I see," Edward said. "So you're saying if Zach got down on one knee right now you'd say yes, no hesitation?"

"Yup," I said.

"Alright then," Edward said.

"Why do you want us to get married so badly?" I asked him.

"Do you have any idea the things I've heard?" Edward said with a sly smile. "One of you is going to spontaneously combust."

Had I been a human, my face would've turned red. I knew _exactly_ what Edward had heard. Zach and I had decided a few months before we left Forks that we weren't going to have sex before we got married. That had proved harder than both of us had thought it was going to be. We were _really _secluded from the rest of the family at our new house, but that didn't mean we couldn't hear anything going on around us. Especially considering Connor and Julia were on the same floor as us. One of us _was _going to spontaneously combust.

I gave Edward a look. "Because that's not awkward _at all_, Edward, not _at all_."

"You asked," he said.

I could hear the light patter of quick vampire feet, and I could tell that Zach was in the lead. Bella was hanging back with Nessie and the baby anyhow. It was only another couple of seconds before Zach came through the back door, shaking himself off from the rain. "Hi," he said.

"Hi," I said back. "I thought you weren't worried about me," I said with a smirk.

"I lied," he admitted freely. "I'm always worried about you, Andrea."

I rolled my eyes while I stood up. "Please," I said. "You should worry about more important things."

"Hey Zach," Edward said. I had a bad feeling about this. "You should propose to Andrea."

Zach looked slightly taken aback. "And why is that?" he asked.

"Because," Edward said. "She will say yes."

"Right," Zach said. "Because that's the only reason you should ever propose to somebody." Zach and I thought much alike.

Nessie and Bella came through the door then. Eila was hiding in Nessie's shoulder, but she snapped her head up as soon as she was out of the rain. Nessie set Eila on her feet, and she turned to look for Bryce. "He's in there, sweetheart," Edward said, pointing toward the closed door.

Eila walked her little legs right over to the door and reached up as high as she could to reach the door knob. She stood on her tip toes to twist it open and walked right in. I could see inside the room now. Bryce was sound asleep. Eila didn't pause in her saunter; she just climbed up next to Bryce and laid down right next to him. Bryce flinched at the movement, and woke up. He smiled when he saw her lying next to him. "Hi," Bryce said to Eila.

"Hi," Eila said sleepily. She bolted awake a minute later, sleepy no more. "You need to be more careful," Eila said in her little girl voice. Eila's speech was far more advanced than any one-year-olds should be, but Nessie's had been too. "And follow the rules," she added.

I saw Bryce containing his laugh. "Okay," he said. "I'll try to follow the rules better next time."

"Thank-you," Eila said. She kissed Bryce on the forehead, and laid down right there and went to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER FIVE**

I smiled. I liked how everything was so simple to kids. They thought that as long as you followed the rules, you would be safe, no matter what. I sighed then, thinking of how untrue it was. I hadn't broken any rules, none of us had, yet somehow, we all still ended up here, in this life. I looked at Zach, and reached down and grabbed his hand.

Life is an awful, ugly place to not have a person who loves you. Zach was everything to me. I hadn't known anything before Zach. He had opened my eyes to everything… Zach had carefully put the pieces back together after they had been broken and separated by Patrick and Mary. He had made me stronger than I could've ever imagined.

I just couldn't believe that I had found someone who finally loved me as much as I loved them.

I had never really been loved… not by my parents, certainly not by my Aunt. Zach had been the first person ever to really look at me and want to know more. He had taken the time to put my fragile mind back together, and learn who I really was.

Somewhere along the way, Zach and I had fallen in love.

No matter how accidental it had been, Zach and I were in love. We were desperately, precariously, passionately in love with each other. I couldn't stand the thought of being without him, ever. I'd learned in the past few years of my life that love is the most powerful thing in the whole world. It's also the most dangerous.

Nessie and Jacob were silently dying of laughter at their daughter's reaction to what had happened to Bryce. I couldn't help but laugh with them. Eila sure was a character…. I was anxious to see what kind of person she would be. I _knew_ that she would be stubborn. Her mother had too much stubbornness in her for that trait not to have been passed on.

After everyone had stopped laughing somewhat, Lyssie asked, "So Nessie, do you think you have everything sorted out for Eila's party?"

Nessie nodded thoughtfully. "I'm pretty sure I do. I've never really planned a party before, but it's going to be pretty small. I mean, if you consider all of us as being a small party. I've figured out that there's going to be… seventy-three all together I guess. Jeez…"

"Wow," Carlisle said. He sighed. "So there are seventy-three people within a ten mile radius of here that know about vampires."

"Yes," Edward said. "But several of them can't talk or don't care to talk, and several of them are also super natural beings. So they don't count."

"I guess that's why we had to move," Bella said.

I nodded. "It was for the best," I said. "And Ohio isn't so bad."

"You should come visit," Bella told her daughter. "I miss you guys so much…"

"We'll have to see," Nessie said. "But believe me, I miss you too."

"So…" Sam said. "How's high school this time around?"

Edward scoffed. "Tedious, but not unexpected."

"I think we should take human studies this year," Bella told Edward. "I think it could be fun."

"Wait," Zach said. "I didn't know we had a human studies class."

"_You_ don't," Edward said. "You have to be a junior."

Zach sighed. "Just my luck."

"Look on the bright side," I said. "Maybe we'll burn the school down in chemistry this year."

"Oh no," Carlisle said. "I do _not_ want a repeat of you and Julia in Biology. That was the very first thing the teacher talked about at parent teacher conferences."

Zach and I cracked up. I explained to everyone what had happened with Julia and I almost burning the school down last March during our experiment. The whole room was laughing by the time I ended the story.

"Way to keep the low profile," Bella said sarcastically.

Edward clapped his hands together. "Well," he said. "I don't know about you, but I'm about to kill someone. Who's coming with me?" He was already at the door.

"Me," I said, jumping up. I always thought it was funny how blunt Edward was.

"Take me with you," Zach said as he ran to the door.

"I'm coming," Bella said.

"How 'bout you Ness?" Edward asked.

She looked at her watch. "It's one in the morning Dad."

He shrugged. "What of it?"

"I'm actually thinking about going home and going to sleep."

"Ok," Edward said. "Good luck with that."

And then he was out the door. I looked at Carlisle. "Are you not coming?"

He shook his head. "I'd rather spend my time doing more important things."

I cocked a brow at him. "I'm pretty sure this counts as important."

He shook his head again. "It won't in three hundred years."

I nodded slowly. "I'm going to hold you to that."

"Go right ahead," Carlisle said. "I'll hope it comes sooner."

I sighed, and nodded. I caught up to my family easily enough. They were spreading out in different directions, and noticing less of each other and more of the animals they were hunting. I knew the woods well here, and it only took me a few moments to successfully catch, kill, and drink from an older deer.

I was usually pretty distracted when I was hunting. This time though, there was more to think about than usual. I had just seen-and felt-what it was like to be _very _close to an openly bleeding wound. It had been hard… really hard. I knew that I wanted to be a doctor, and I knew I would be someday… but I also knew that there was a lot of hard work ahead of me if I wanted to succeed.

I hunted for at least an hour, taking down animal after animal, the whole time thinking. I was thinking about Zach, and I was thinking about how much I loved him. I thought about how terrible my life would've been without him. I was near certain that I would've been dead by now, killed by one of the other newborns, Patrick and Mary, or maybe even the Cullen's.

I thought about my family, and how strong they were. And how strong they had made me. They were the example that more people should choose to follow. They did the right thing, not the easy thing.

I don't know what made me start thinking like this. Being back in this place, back where all of this began… it made my head clear. It made me remember the simple things in life. It made me remember how different things had been the first time I had been here, and how much things had changed now that I was back. Change was definitely a good thing.

Zach came and found me after a while. I guess I had been hunting for much longer than I had thought. I heard him and turned to meet him, but he made a quick turn and darted around so that he came up behind me. He grabbed me around the waist and pulled me to ground on top of him.

I gasped and started giggling. He flipped me around and I landed on his chest. He smiled at me. "Well it looks like you sure have your head in the clouds tonight Ms. Andrea." He gave me a peck on the lips. I giggled again. "You've been gone for almost three hours. The rest of us got back after about forty-five minutes ago. They sent me to come get you."

"Hm," I said, kissing him this time. "I hope you weren't worried."

I kissed his cheek. He smiled at me. "Oh you know me," he said. "I wasn't worried _at all_." The sarcasm was absolutely dripping.

This time we both were laughing, and I could see his eyes dancing in the moonlight.

He reached his hand behind my head and pulled me close to him. He put my cheek next to his for a moment, and nuzzled it the way a baby would. I turned my head slightly, and all of the sudden, we were kissing. My eyes were closed, but I could still see him. I could see how his face was molded against mine, and how his eyes would be turned up just slightly, hinting a smile.

I wrapped my hands into his hair, pulling myself closer to him. He had his arms wrapped around my back, pushing my chest into his. He reached one hand up, and brushed my dirty blond hair back out of my eyes. My leg was curled up around him.

I don't know how long we stayed like that. Him holding me while we kissed. Time seemed to blur in moments like this. It didn't matter. I didn't care. I could spend the rest of my life like this, and never want anything else. I pushed myself onto Zach, and I could feel him sigh contentedly right into my mouth.

"Whoa!" I heard someone say from behind me. I rolled off Zach and into the defensive crouch at the same time he did. My eyes were wheeling around as fast as they could go, searching for the source of the sound.

Connor stepped out from behind the trees with his hands raised. "Sorry!" He said shamefully. "Don't mind me…"

Zach and I snapped up from our defensive positions. "What are you doing?" Zach asked.

"Uh…" Connor said. "We were worried that something had happened. We didn't know where you guys had gone… or if you had even found Andrea for that matter," he said looking at Zach. "So they sent me to come and get you guys…" His eyes got wide. "But if you don't want to come back… I'll uh… just leave you to it."

He darted off into the woods, back for Nessie's house. I sighed, and looked at Zach. "Come on," I said, grabbing Zach by the hand. "Let's go get made fun of by the rest of our family…" I smiled. He smiled back, and we took off running after Connor.

He beat us there of course. "Where were they?" Alice asked. She had probably stopped trying to see us. There were so many blind spots now.

"They were making a baby," Connor said bluntly.

We got there as all hell broke loose.

"They were doing _what_?"

"Why?"

"Oh my gosh what did you _see_ Connor?"

"Calm down," I said as I opened Nessie's back door and pulled Zach in behind me. "We were not, under any circumstances, having _sex_."

"Well I don't know what you'd call that," Connor said. "But that did not look very innocent to me."

"Well it was," I said. "But you can think what you want." A thought occurred to me. "And why didn't you ask your wife where we were?"

He jerked his head toward Nessie's front porch, and we all listened for a second. Julia was out there of course, strumming away at her guitar. It was beautiful, and I heard her playing the same set of notes over and over again. Pretty soon, I heard her mouth start forming lyrics to the notes, and I understood why they hadn't wanted to bother her. The music was beautiful, and I'm sure no one wanted it to end.

"Right…" I said. "And for the record, we were _not_ having sex."

"Whatever you say," Connor said.

Nessie and Jacob came in through their back door then, Jacob carrying a sleeping Eila. "We had to pry her off of Bryce," Nessie told us as she held the door open for Jacob. He carried her into her room right away and laid her down in her crib. She didn't stir as he shifted his warm body away from her, and he slipped out of her room quietly. He shut the door behind him.

Nessie pointed a finger at their closed bedroom door. "Bed," she said. "Now."

Jacob held up his hands. "Ok, ok, I'm going," he said. "Jeez."

Nessie turned to us with a grin on her face as he shut their door behind them. "I'm going to follow him to bed," she said. "But I like being controlling sometimes."

"Good for you," Rosalie said. She smiled.

"Right," said Nessie. She looked at her bedroom door with a sigh. "I suppose I should go to sleep."

"Good night," Edward said.

"Good night," she said.

The rest of our days before the party seemed to fly by. We couldn't get enough of each other. There was so much catching up to do, and we did it in a numerous amount of places. There was a bonfire, and I talked to a bunch of people there. I hadn't had much time to get to know all of the eagles before we had moved, and this was a good chance for that.

Eila's party was being held at our old house, mostly because that was the only place that could hold all of us and was indoors. Nessie and Jacob weren't doing anything completely erotic or outgoing; just a simple, first birthday for their very special daughter.

Nessie had set up a cake table, and I laughed when I saw the theme for the party. It was a bright pink with brown polka-dots. Something that both Nessie and Eila would've picked out. Eila matched her cake in her brown and pink sundress, and I thought she looked adorable. The party started at three, and I knew that Nessie planned on ordering several dozen pizzas later.

"Hi," Jacob said as we all filed in through the front door.

"Hi," I said back.

We were by no means the first people there. In fact, I was pretty sure we were the last. It seemed like everyone was here already. "Are we late?" I asked.

"No," Jacob said. "Everyone else is early."

"I see," I said. Eila jumped up from where she was sitting -on Bryce's lap- and ran to Edward's leg. She held her arms up expectantly.

Edward laughed and bent down to scoop her up into his arms. "Happy Birthday," he said.

She smiled. "I'm one," she said. She held up one finger.

"Nah," Edward said. "You can't be one. You're still a baby."

"No no no," she said. "I'm one year old."

"Who says?"

"Momma," Eila said. "She told me I was one today."

"Well, you know if your mom says it, it's definitely the truth," Edward told her.

She squirmed and he put her down. She ran back to where Claire was sitting beside Quil, and Claire pulled her onto her lap. Claire had changed quite a bit since the last time I saw her. She was now a good thirteen-and-a-half years old, and she was definitely handling being a teenager well. She wasn't a little kid anymore; she was becoming a young woman.

"If you're hungry there are snacks in here," Nessie said from the kitchen.

A few people got up, but not many people were incredibly hungry at three in the afternoon. I didn't bother taking one of the empty chairs, it didn't matter to me. Zach I were standing by the window seat where Caleb and Mikayla were sitting.

"Hi," I said to them.

"Hi," they both said back at the same time.

"How have you been?"I asked them.

"I've been alright," Mikayla said. "I've been pretty tired lately, but I've always been a rough sleeper."

"Maybe you're pregnant," I said.

There was one beat of silence from about ninety percent of the whole house.

"WHAT?" Mikayla screeched.

"Just saying," I said, suddenly becoming a little shy.

Mikayla held up her hand. "Trust me; there is _no possible way_ that I'm pregnant."

"Birth control fails," I said.

"But abstinence doesn't," she said immediately.

I held up my hands in defeat. "You've got that right," I said.

"What the heck would make you say _that_, of all things?" she asked.

"I was accused of making a baby the other night," I said. "I've had strange thoughts and ideas since then."

Mikayla laughed. The rest of the room had broken off into many conversations already.

Just then, I heard Carlisle's cell phone ring. I figured it was just for work, so I ignored it. He stepped out the back door to take the call.

Alice had her head on Jasper's shoulder with both her eyes wide open. She was staring straight ahead, and obviously seeing nothing. Jasper had his scarred arms wrapped around her little body.

"Headache Alice?" I asked her.

She nodded blankly, but closed her eyes. "I keep getting weird flashes and awkward blurs. And that makes my head hurt."

"I see," I told her. "That sucks."

"Pretty much, yeah," she said. "I'm glad I'm here though… Otherwise I would've regretted not getting to see everyone."

Carlisle came in through the back door then. I knew immediately that something was wrong by how quiet the room next to us got. Instantly, the room I was in quieted too.

"Carlisle what's wrong?" Esme asked him calmly.

"Maybe something," he said. "And maybe nothing."

"Or maybe something," Edward repeated. "And that's what I would bet."

"Edward, tell me what just happened," Bella said.

"That was the Volturi," Carlisle said before Edward could explain.

"And?" I said, standing up and zipping into the kitchen.

Carlisle sighed. "And they want us to come for a visit."

This was met by a deafening silence. No one seemed to quite know what to say to that.

"Alright," Connor said after a minute or so. "Let's… not get worked up about this." Connor was always the logical one. It was kind of his talent.

"Right," Zach said. "Let's just take a step back, and think about this."

It was quiet for a moment while everyone did just that. Edward squinted his eyes shut. "Wow," he said. "You guys think a lot."

"Oh excuse us," I said.

"Wait…" Edward said. "Go back Emmett."

"What?" Emmett asked, confused.

"Go back to what you were thinking about… About why they would want us there."

"That's all I got to," Emmett said. "I have no idea why they would want us there. Why did they even come to visit us anyway? Unannounced and uninvited," he added.

"So I wouldn't know," Alice said bluntly.

This comment was met by another loud silence. "What do you mean by that Alice?" Rosalie asked.

Alice took in a breath. "They came to visit us unannounced and uninvited so that I wouldn't know that they were coming," she looked around at us before continuing. "I watch the Volturi's decisions _very_ carefully," Alice said. "And," she continued. "They know that." She took in another breath. "So, when I'm surprised about something the Volturi has done or hasn't done, they worked really hard to keep that a secret from me." She ran her hand through her short hair, thinking. "I was surprised when they came to visit us," she said. "_Very_ surprised."

"So…" Jasper said. "Where does that put us with this phone call?"

"I was getting to that," Alice said. She looked down at the floor, and it kind of looked like her head was spinning. "But I've got to get out of here," she said. "You tell them Edward."

She took Jasper's hand and pulled him out the back door as fast as she could go.

"Anyways," Edward said. "Alice has been having the feeling lately that the Volturi is hiding something from her, or trying to at least." He shrugged his shoulders. "She thinks that they want us there for more than just a friendly visit. And they're working their minds to death to hide what that reason is from her."

"So we don't go," Esme said. "If we doubt whether or not we should go, I say we shouldn't."

Carlisle took a deep breath in through his nose. "The Volturi will see us again, one way or another. They won't let us decide whether or not we find out about why they want us to come. They'll either let us come to them, or they'll come to us, most likely without any advance notice." He paused for a second. "I think that us going to them would be the best decision. Not because it's the most logical one, but because it's what they want. Trust me, if we give the Volturi get what they want, they'll be much more likely to be peaceful."

"I don't like that," Edward says. "They're in a position of; 'Give us want we want and we'll treat you well. Don't give us what we want and we'll kill you.' It puts them in total control."

"And what would be the difference in that Edward?" Carlisle asked. "The Volturi get what they want, and they always have."

"Not always," Edward said. "They didn't get Nessie."

"But they didn't want _her_," Carlisle countered. "They wanted all of us. She was just the reason they gave to come and kill us all."

Edward nodded. "I don't want to go," he said.

"None of us do," Carlisle said.

"What if we go there and they kill us?"

Carlisle sighed. "Even that is a little drastic for the Volturi," Carlisle said. "They do have a reputation to uphold."

Edward took a deep breath. "I suppose you're right," he said. "It's inevitable; we have to go."

"We might be walking right into a trap," Esme said.

"And we would practically be walking to our deaths if they were to come here," Carlisle reminded her gently.

Everyone was understanding, and eventually agreeing with the idea all around me, even Zach. I would follow Zach anywhere, even to the scariest place I'd ever been. "When do we leave?" I asked.

"They don't want us until spring of next year…" Carlisle said. He shook his head. "They're up to something, that's for sure."

Spring of next year was a long time a way, even as a vampire. Unfortunately though, I knew that the trip to Volterra would come all too soon.

After that, no one mentioned anything about the Volturi or about anything like that, even though I knew it was still fresh in everyone's mind. Eila blew out the candle on her birthday cake, even though she hid in Jacob's shoulder when we sang to her. Julia played around on her guitar, and sang a little bit, but mostly we all just talked.


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER SIX**

Nessie ordered a _ton_ of pizza for everyone around dinner time, and I helped get the kid's plates. Around eight thirty, Nessie put on a movie for the kids in one of the bigger bedrooms, and when Rachel went to check on them at nine, she told us that all of the little ones had fallen asleep.

I had decided that no matter what, I wouldn't be the one to bring up the Volturi again, except to maybe Zach. I decided that considering the trip was so far away, it wasn't worth discussing quite yet. I wanted to enjoy the rest of our trip, even if it was for only another week.

We stuck around to help clean up the house. We knew how to clean it well seeing as we'd once lived there. We were running home by eleven thirty. Nessie and Jacob brought in a completely partied-out Eila when they got home, and I helped bring in all of the stuff from the party. Eila had been completely spoiled, as any child should have been on their first birthday. Zach and I had gotten her a book that taught you how to draw things. It was meant for older children, but her face had lit up when Nessie explained to her what it was. She was showing a major interest in art and music already.

We watched some new-release movies that night. It was fun to see which one was the best, and then of course which one was the worst. Nessie and Jacob were up pretty early the next morning. Nessie had meetings to get to. She was going to be the school district's music teacher in the fall. Her college was still continuing part-time, but only at night. She wasn't going to have a classroom or anything, but she would have a mobile classroom. It was pretty much a cart with all of the things she would need on there.

The end of our stay in Forks ended entirely too soon. It was cloudy and drizzly on the day we departed for Cleveland. Nessie didn't cry when we left, but I'm pretty sure Bella did. The plane ride home was pretty quiet, even for us. I knew we were all thinking about the invitation the Volturi had forced on us. We were invited to stay with them, but it wasn't optional. I hated it. I hated it all. The Volturi knew they couldn't lose. If we didn't go, who knows what would happen? They could come down here and ruin everything we'd ever worked for. If we went there, at least they were getting what they wanted. The whole concept was atrocious.

My sophomore year was as easy as, if not easier than, my freshman year. I enjoyed chemistry, but it was the same class I'd taken two times before. Edward and Bella _had_ ended up taking the human studies class, and that had presented us with somewhat of a family project around Christmas. Their assignment was to film your family and how they act by themselves and how they act with each other for about a week. They would be partners for the project, and they were supposed to put together a cut and edited version of all of their footage, and it would be shown in class. Seeing as our family wasn't exactly human, the whole idea of a human studies project was somewhat of a problem.

They had the idea to start out the film by showing each of us in our rooms and kind of an introduction as to who we were-or at least as to whom everyone _thought _we were. I thought it was going to be fun.

The first night they were filming, Edward knocked on my door around seven, and came in holding a camera. Bella led the way. "Say hi to the camera Andrea," Edward said. Bella sat down next to me on my bed where I had been on the computer.

"Hi," I said. I waved and smiled.

"Do you want to tell us about yourself or should I?" Bella asked.

"I will," I immediately agreed. I didn't have to work hard to remember our lie. "I'm Andrea Swan," I said. "When I was about two I was taken away from my mom because of drug possession. I don't remember her hardly at all, and Esme has been my _real_ mother for the past thirteen-and-a-half years. I'm going to be sixteen at the end of May this year. Julia and Bella are my half-sisters. Julia and I aren't twins, but she is only about nine months older than me. I…" I thought about the rest for half a second. "Want to be a doctor after I graduate High School. I like to listen to music, and I'm decent at playing the violin. " I sighed. "Oh, and I'm very sarcastic."

Edward laughed. "It's hilarious," he said from behind the camera.

"Not to some people," I contradicted. "A lot of times people think I'm like smarting off to them or something."

"Hey Andrea," Edward said. "Who's your favorite brother?"

"Jasper," I said randomly.

Bella cracked up. "Burn…" she said.

Edward flipped off the camera with a chuckle. "That was good," he said. "They'll eat it right up."

"Good luck," I told them as they left my room.

The next morning, Edward and Bella were going to film us pretending to get up in the morning. It was supposed to be pretty funny. Bella and Edward were going to film themselves saying that it was like four thirty in the morning before they came in to try and beat us to our 'alarms'. I had set my alarm clock for five am like they had suggested.

Right on cue at four fifty-eight they came in my room and knelt down by my 'sleeping' face. I tried my hardest not to laugh as I felt them put the camera really close to me. My hair was in a loose pony tail, and I was in sweats and a tank top. My alarm went off at five, and I did my best to wake up slowly. I rolled over to shut my alarm clock off, and blinked my eyes. When I saw Edward and Bella holding the camera over my face, I jumped and pretended to be totally surprised.

I squealed out of fake shock. "Why are you guys in _my_ room, holding a camera over _my_ face, at _five in the morning_?" I asked.

"For our project," Bella said.

I smacked a pillow over my eyes. "Is there a particular reason you wanted to see me this early?"

"Not particularly," Edward said. "Mostly just for kicks."

"Right…" I whispered to myself. He shut the camera off then.

"Good job," he said. "That was perfect."

"Thanks," I said. "Now go do that nine more times."

"Yup," Bella said. "Off to Zach's room."

"Good luck with that."

I pulled myself out from under the covers. I went to my closet and laughed as I listened to Zach be 'woken up'. This project was going to be more fun than I thought. I pulled on a pair of jeans and a black cami. I wore a bright purple zip-up hoodie over it. I brushed my hair and parted it to the side. Zach met me at my door like he did most days.

"Hi," he said. He held his arms open and I wrapped myself around him.

I leaned up for a kiss, but he was already waiting. We'd been together just about an hour ago of course, watching TV and playing video games with our siblings, but we hadn't been alone like this since the night before. Time is a strange thing when you have an unlimited amount of it. Sometimes it passes very quickly, and other times it passes very slowly. I usually don't pay much attention to it. If you had something that never ended, would you keep track of it?

Zach picked me up off my feet and swung my legs around his hips. I was perfectly level with his eyes. He smiled at me. "We really should spend more time together."

I laughed. "You're right. Twenty-four hours a day is simply not enough."

He put his lips on mine again. A small hiss escaped from his mouth, and I kissed his cheek. "Sh…" I whispered in his ear. I moved my lips back to his, and I knotted my hands in his hair. His hands moved greedily up my back and onto my neck. I giggled as I broke off from him. "I was serious," I said. "We have to be quiet."

He kissed me again, and set me back on my feet. He rested his forehead against mine. "'Kay," he said. "Whatever you say."

I looked into his melting eyes. "This sure is one way to start out our morning…"

"Mhm…" he chuckled. "Definitely."

I looked down at my watch. We had been here for much longer than I had thought. I put myself in his arms again, letting his touch right all the wrongs in my world. He ran his hands up and down my back. I gave him a last quick peck on the lips. "C'mon," I said. "We have to go act human for the camera."

We were acting out a breakfast scene at six fifteen. When we came down the stairs to the second level, we found Alice and Jasper making their way downstairs as well. "Morning," Jasper said.

"Morning," I said.

"I thought 'waking up' was fun this morning," Alice said.

I laughed. "You would."

When we got to the kitchen, Edward and Bella had set up a tripod for the camera. Once we were all downstairs, Bella gave us instructions. "Okay," she said. "All you have to do is fix yourself breakfast and sit down at the table like you're going to eat it. After that, I'll kill the camera and you can do whatever you want." She walked over to the camera. "And I am going to be recording… now."

I walked over to the cabinet and pulled out a bagel. Zach reached over my head for the cereal. I got a knife from the drawer and the cream cheese from the refrigerator. Carlisle was busy making coffee that he would never drink. "Did everyone sleep good?" he asked.

A few people mumbled yes. "Are you excited for school?" Esme asked.

"No…" we all groaned. It was hilarious.

Esme laughed. "I didn't think so."

"I'm _so_ tired," Julia said, just loud enough for the camera to hear.

"Me too," Emmett agreed.

"Try the coffee," Carlisle said.

He had twelve different colored coffee cups in front of him, and he filled them with the pot and started another. As we all walked past the coffee maker, we grabbed a certain colored cup as if we did it every morning. I grabbed the purple one of course, seeing as that was my favorite color. I felt like I was about to burst out laughing at any second. We were pulling this off well. The human studies class would eat it up.

Bella shut off the camera as we all sat down around the large dining room table. We all started laughing. "Wow," Bella said. "That was good. I'm not sure if anyone else will think that was as funny as I did, but we can voice over it if we have to."

"Alright," Carlisle said. He stood up from the table. "I feel bad throwing food away, but let's face it, we're not eating it."

"You've got that right," Jasper said.

The rest of the project went well. The most tedious part was when we had to sit and do our homework for the camera. Bella and Edward were speeding it up and voicing over it on their actual tape, but we still had to sit there for about two hours pretending to do homework that only took me about forty-five minutes. I moved ahead chapter after chapter in my classes, trying not to let my mind sit idle. Whenever that happened, thoughts about what lie ahead in a few months started to penetrate and filter through my mind. I could picture Aro's cool face, staring at me, haunting my mind. I could see Jane's calm, evil, merciless smirk burning my thoughts. Alec was no better. The Volturi's visit was like a road block. I couldn't see anything past it. I couldn't get myself to imagine leaving Volterra, completely safe; back here in Zach's arms. I couldn't see any place as pure and good as this one after so much dark, badness. I couldn't picture everything going peacefully. This was the effect the Volturi had on me. The thought of them, and how horrible they were, could literally paralyze me with fear.

I jolted myself out of my trance and turned back to my English book. "Alright," Edward said, standing up from his seat at the table and shutting the camera off. "I sure hope that's enough footage because I don't think I can do another minute of homework."

"I don't think I've done that much math since the last ACT," Rosalie said. "Pre- calc is stupid."

"Yup," Emmett said. "And physics makes me want to break something."

"Agreed," Bella said, slamming her physics book shut and loading it back into her bag.

"You alright?" Zach whispered to me.

I turned to him and shrugged. "As alright as I'll be until after we get home from Italy."

He put his arms around my shoulders and sighed. "You know," he said. "Sometimes… I almost forget. But then it'll be times like this where I don't have anything else to think about, and it'll come flooding back into my mind. I try not to worry… there's nothing we can do to prevent events that have already been set into motion."

He pulled me into a hug as our family scattered to different parts of the house. He kissed the top of my head. "We _have_ to go," he said. "It's not a good option, but it's the best, safest option. We don't know what the Volturi wants, but we do know that we want to coddle their wishes as much as possible."

He cradled my small body in his arms and tucked my head under his chin, rocking me like a baby. "Please," he said, rocking me some more. "Try not to be afraid." He ran his fingers through my hair. "Don't give them the satisfaction. The Volturi gets what the Volturi wants, and they want us to be scared of them." He thought for another second. "So let's be defiant," he said. "Let's be proud. We work hard to stay who we are, and there's nothing that anyone, not even the Volturi, can say or do that can change that."

"Kay," I said. "I've kind of got to work on the whole bravery thing."

He pulled away from me so that he could see my face. "No," he said, shaking his head. "Trust me, you're the bravest person I know."

"How?" I asked. "I'm so afraid all the time."

"Because," he said. "Even if you're absolutley terrified, you keep going. You're fear is noticable, but it doesn't stop you. You wouldn't notice this, but that actually makes both vampires and humans alike somewhat afraid of you. They see that you're stubborn, and that you're not going to let fear get in your way."

I shook my head. "You're making that up to make me feel better."

"No he's not," Edward called from the next room over. "That's seriously what happens Andrea. The mind works in strange ways."

I was still a little skeptical. "Really?" I asked Zach.

"Really," he said. "So you just go ahead and keep being brave. Don't let fear stop you."

I ran my hand through his hair. "Right…" I said slowly. I put my mouth to his ear so that only he could hear me. "You're the reason nothing stops me," I said. I kissed his cheek. "You're what I push through the fear for." I nuzzled into his shoulder. "Don't ever leave me okay?"

His arms held me tight. "I promise," he said. "No matter what happens, I'll find my way back to you."

I planted my lips on his. "Like magnets," I said. "Wherever you go, I'll follow the path you leave." I kissed him again, and came away smiling.

I jumped off his lap, and sprinted up the stairs to our floor, where I knew he would find me.

The rest of my sophmore year slipped away. The days were speeding together, and as the hours and days and weeks and months slid past me toward April, I seemed to grow more and more panicked. I started to imagine all of the terrible things that the Volturi could do to us. They were much bigger than we were.

The morning we left, I knew that this was going to be one of the hardest days that I would ever go through. The Volturi terrified me more than I could even explain to myself. With the power I have, its almost like I have a button in my mind that says 'danger, danger, get away.' I knew that the Volturi were dangerous, but instead of running away, we were running toward them. I tried to remember the logic behind the choice we had made, but I couldn't. My fear was clouding up my mind, and I was shuffled out of the house with everyone else. I couldn't think straight, and I couldn't seem to find Zach amoungst my family.

All of the sudden, he was there, just like he always was. He came up behind me and grabbed my hand, and everything suddenly came into focus. The fear was still there, but it wasn't overwhleming me anymore. "Be definant," he whispered quiet enough for only me to hear. We climbed into the back of the Volvo and scooted all the way in so that Rosalie could fit in the back with us. Once we were situated and Edward took off driving toward the Seattle airport, Zach put his arm around me, and I sank into his shoulder. He rested his head on mine, and I felt protected.

"You know Andrea," Edward said. "You're creeping Jasper out."

I slapped my hand over my eyes. "I figured," I said. "My emotions get all out of whack when I'm scared."

"What makes you so afraid?" Rosalie asked.

"Its strange," I said. "Its almost like its out of my control…" I sighed. "When I meet people who I know are bad, or who have done bad things, I get really afraid. Even if they're only human, I still get scared. I don't _want_ to be scared… but I've never really been able to control that. Even when _I_ was human I was always afraid. Not quite to this extent, but still," I said, finishing.

"That's horrible," Rosalie said. "And really… not exactly normal for vampires."

I nodded. "I know it isn't normal… but I suppose that's just the price I have to could be worse I guess." I was quiet for a moment. "That's why I went to you guys in the first place…" I said. "That's why we held back the very first time we met you. I could see that you were good people, and I was automatically less afraid of you than I was of Patrick and Mary."

Rosalie sighed. "That's crazy."

"I used to be afraid of the Volturi," Bella said from where she was riding shotgun. "But then I found out that their main source of defense doesn't really work on me. And lets face it, its not going to work on you guys either if I'm any kind of sheild at all."

Edward sighed. "I'm just hoping that you don't have to be a shield at all."

Bella nodded in agreeance. "Me too," she said.

"Why does Andrea being scared creep out Jasper?" Zach asked, backtracking.

"Because," Edward said. "He can't get it under control. He knows you're scared, and it scares him too."

"He tries to get it under control?" I questioned.

"Yeah…" Edward said. "I guess its not working."

I sighed. "I guess not."

Zach and I were fairly quiet for the rest of the ride to the airport. We made it through security and baggage check with only the expected amount of the stares. We rode first class for the long ride to Italy, but had to fake sleep for a while on the overnight plane trip. The airport in Italy was just as nice as the one we had left in Seattle, and I was glad that I had reveiwed my Italian before we had come. It was nice to read the signs and actually understand.

My fear seemed to increase by a tenfold as we reached the entrance to the Voltrui's underground mansion. When we got to the entrance, Demetri and Alec were already waiting for us. Carlisle and Esme led the way. "Welcome," Alec said. "The Voltrui are happy to have you as guests."

"Thank-you," Carlisle said. "We're happy to have come," he fibbed.

Zach kept my hand in his the whole time we walked through the long corridors, and never once left my side. My fear was very prominent, but not overwhelming. As we came to the doors that led to the Volturi's large main living chamber, I almost lost control. My mind was telling me to book it out of there and to get somewhere safer. I could feel the evil from the Volturi overpowering the good I could feel from my family. I forced myself to stay with Zach, and insisted on remembering everything he had told me. Be defiant, I reminded myself as Alec opened the doors and led the way in.

Sure enough, the first thing I saw when I came in was that most of the Voltrui and their guard were there. Aro, Marcus, and Caius were all sitting in their chairs, facing us as we came in. The guard stood silently behind them. Those with the darkest cloaks stood closer to the chairs than those with the lighter colored cloaks. I bit back my fear as I noticed Jane, playing with her fingernails abesnt mindedly.

That was something else strange. The Volturi didn't look cruel, or intimidating at all. They were all just kind of standing around; organized, but not specifically so. They weren't talking, but they looked like they might have been had we not been there.

"Hello!" Aro greeted us excitedly. "Welcome!"

"Thank-you," Carlisle said. "It's very gracious of you to invite us."

"You're quite welcome," Aro said. "How was the flight?"

"A little windy," Carlisle said. "But overall not bad."

"I'm glad to hear it," Aro said. He turned to the rest of us. "And how have you been Edward?" Aro asked kindly.

"Alright," Edward said. "I'm enjoying a human studies class that I'm taking in school this year. I find it… fascinating."

"I see," Aro said. He looked thoughtful. "I can see how that would be interesting."

I was still holding Zach's hand, but my grip was lessening. I wasn't nessacarily calmer, but I was getting used to my new, terribly evil, atmosphere.

"How is your music coming Julia?" Aro asked. "Do you still write and play?"

"Yes," Julia said. "I do. I'm thinking of maybe picking up another instrument, but I still haven't decided yet."

"Excellent," Aro said. "And how is Nessie doing?" He turned to Bella, his eyes skipping right over Zach and I.

"She's doing well," Bella said. "She's enjoying her first year as a music teacher, actually."

"Oh is she?" Aro asked. "How wonderful…"

There was exactly one second of awkward silence.

Suddenly, Edward stiffened. He stood up straight, and was looking at Aro right in the eye. "If that's what you've brought us here for you can give up on that idea. We'll leave now…"

"Wait," Carlisle said. He took the smallest second to collect his thoughts. "Someone tell us what's going on."

"Oh nothing Carlilse," Aro said calmly. His expression had changed somehow,but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. He looked almost… disapointed. "I think that your very talented son is overreacting slightly."

"They want us to join them," Edward told Carlisle. "That's why they've invited us here…"

"Now, now Edward," Aro said. "You make it sound like such a terrible thing. We want you to join us, to join _our_ family. Is that so wrong?"

Carlisle shook his head. "Why didn't you just tell us?" Carlisle asked. "Why did we have to come here for you to tell us this? Or for us to find this out?"

Aro was quick to respond. "Think about it Carlisle," Aro said. "If I had just called you up one day and asked you to come join us, would you have?"

"What makes you think we will now?" Emmett said, suddenly speaking up. "What makes you think that we would want to… be part of your family?"

Aro stood there for a while, staring at us. Then he turned to the rest of his guard, who all looked very attentative now. "Why not?" Aro asked. "Why… wouldn't you want to join us?"He looked at the rest of the Volturi. "Why wouldn't you want to be a part of this?"

Carlisle took one second of silence before he spoke again. "Because Aro," he said. "Everything you do… everything you… encourage…. Is everything that I've spent my whole life fighting against." He shook his head. "You casually kill… You don't respect vampire _or_ human life." He gave Aro a sad smile. "You know me better than that old friend."

Aro nodded, but looked very dissapointed. "So there's no way you'd want to join us? Think about it," he waved his hand in front of his face as if he were seeing our future with him. "You would be part of the most powerful vampire organization in the world. You are all _so_ talented… it seems a waste to not use your talents to better the vampire world, don't you think?"

Carlisle shook his head once more. "At this point in time," he said. "We are content with where our lives are, and what they have become. So," he said. "To be blunt, thanks for the offer, but no thanks."

Aro nodded solemnly. He sighed dramatically. "Well, I was hoping that we could get you to see this our way, but I understand if you don't." He stood up from his chair. "Can I tempt you to at least stay for a visit, even if you aren't looking to make it more permanent?"

Carlisle shot a quick glance at us, but didn't hesitate. "Of course," he said. "Although we do have a plane to catch early tommorow morning."

"Perfect," Aro said.

The visit was hardly more than boring, but I was on my toes the entire time. The Volturi weren't doing anything to harm us, or even intimidate us, but to me they were still just as scary as if they had ran at me with lighter fluid and match. Zach stayed by my side the whole time, and that brought me some calm. If he was here, then I could do this. I only spoke when I was spoken too, and nobody paid me much mind. The only time any of the Volturi said anything to me was when we were playing a very intense game of cards and I was winning.

The Volturi were acting kind of strange, I thought. They weren't really talking to each other, and they were being more than polite toward us. Jane wasn't even acting like her normal self. She seemed absent minded, and I wondered what Edward thought of that.

Still, even though the visit had proved to be nothing more than casual, I found myself counting down the last minutes until we had to leave to catch our flight. With Aro giving sappy good-byes, we left the Volturi's residence at about one am. Our flight was at three, and we needed to be there early enough to get all of us through security and onto the flight in time.

The second we were in our rental cars, I seemed to deflate like a balloon. I felt like we had read a little too much into the Volturi's invitation to come here, even though they _weren't_ inviting us here for just a visit. They were inviting us here for an invitation to come join them. Although this was my first experience with it, I knew that my family had been asked to join them many times before. I found it weird, but if looking at it fom their point of veiw, sensible. We were becoming bigger and bigger, as was our lifestyle. As our lifestyle grew, their lifestyle became more and more challenged. They knew we didn't stand for what they did, but they tried to convince us to join them anyway. That's why they had been so polite, and family-like. But they couldn't fool us. The Volturi were nothing more than a big bully, a force that would one day be reckoned with.

I fell on Zach's shoulder completley emotionally exhausted, and I noticed how immediatley the familiar feeling of my family calmed me. Zach kissed the top of my head. "You did it," he said. "And you looked more terrified than ever."

I scoffed. "I _was_ more terrified than ever."

"That's alright," Alice said from the front seat of the car we were sharing with her and Jasper. "It makes you look tougher."

Zach laughed. "That's what I keep telling her."

I closed my eyes on Zach's shoulder. "Has anyone else been worrying about this for the past few months like I have?" I felt kind of silly.

"Nope," Jasper said. "At least not like you have. Although, your reason for fear is understandable. You see bad, you're scared. You see good, you're comfortable. Considering that the Voltrui is practically the epidemy of badness, I'd be scared if I was you too."

"What about you Zach?" Alice asked. "Aren't you ever scared, seeing what the Volturi has done and knowing that they could do the same thing to you?"

Sometimes I felt bad. I occasionally forgot that Zach might be just as scared as me, with his special talent. Seeing the pasts of people could be just as scary as seeing how good or bad they were. We both learned that when we were with Patrick and Mary.

"Sometimes," Zach said. "But I know that people change, and their pasts don't always define them. With the Volturi, that's not likely, but I can try to convince myself of that, and it usually helps." He turned to me. "It also helps to know that no matter how scared I am, Andrea is probably ten times more afraid."

I hit him playfully, but the sound echoed through the car. "You make me feel like a wimp sometimes you know that?"

He smiled at me teasingly. "Who says you aren't a wimp?"

I stuck my toungue out at him, and he kissed my cheek.

The flight home was much more upbeat than the one we took to get to Volterra. We were all pretty relieved that Volturi hadn't used any violent or cruel methods to try to _make_ us join them. I knew that the battle wasn't over; the Volturi wouldn't stop until they had what they wanted. What they wanted being us of course. But the Volturi had been trying to convince Carlisle to join them again practically since the day he left. Their efforts increased as Edward joined Carlisle. The Volturi wanting us to join them wasn't a new problem, just one that was usually forgotten.

How we dealt with the Volturi was what would define us. It was what vampires all over the world would remember us for if one day we were all gone. We would be the vampires who refused to join, who, no matter how many times we were persauded, wouldn't turn their backs on their morals. We would be the vampires who dealt with it.

I wrapped my arms around Zach and leaned into him, pressing my face into his chest. I smiled to myself. Nothing and nobody could tear our family apart, not even the Volturi. No matter what people say or do, who you are is defined by how you deal with it.

Zach kissed the top of my head, and nuzzled his face into mine. The world might shake, and start to spin backwards, but that was okay with me. Moments like this, moments where nothing in the world matters besides me and Zach, that was just my way of choosing how to deal.


	7. Chapter 7

Book Two

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

I shut the car door and locked it behind me as we got to the airport. It was _finally_ chirstmas break of my junior year at Bay High School. Cleveland was home now, and I liked it. The days were almost always overcast, but the town was much bigger than Forks will ever be.

We were headed back to Forks to visit Nessie, Jacob, and Eila, and it felt kind of weird to be going back. I couldn't believe that it had been almost two years since we had left. I was looking forward to seeing everyone though. Eila was about two-and-a-half now, and she was adorable. She said the cutest things.

Plus, since we had left, four of the eagles and four of the wolves had gotten married. Caleb and Mikayla, Jeremy and Natalie, Matt and Jocelyn, and Lucas and Amber had been married at a small backyard wedding about two months ago. Lyssie and Michael had gotten married about a year ago as well. We hadn't been able to attend either of the ceremonies, but we had seen tons of pictures. I couldn't wait to see everyone in person though. Especially Claire. She had started High School this year, and apparently she was starting to become less of a kid and more of an adult every minute. I was betting that Quil would pop the question in about four years. It was so exciting to watch their lives play out in front of me.

The plane ride there was fun, and upbeat. Everyone was incredibly excited about getting back to Forks. I was practically bouncing in my seat when we got there, and Zach was laughing at me. The flight attendant asked me if I was alright twice. It was pretty funny. We made it through security and luggage in record time, and that was with us going at human speed.

I found Jacob first; he was towering over the rest of the crowd by at least a few inches. Then I saw Nessie holding Eila. She set her down and Eila took off at a run that looked just a _little_ too fast to be normal. She had the cutest little smile on her face, and she squealed when she got to Edward and he scooped her off of the ground.

And then we were to Nessie and Bella was holding her daughter, and I was pretty convinced that both of them were crying. Jacob was wearing the smile that I had seen on him since the first day I met him, and he looked happier than I had ever seen anyone. I couldn't help but smile.

"Hi!" Nessie said when she finally let go of her mother. Then she fell into her father's arms. He was holding her in one arm and Eila in the other. I was shocked by how much the three of them looked alike. Edward cradled his daughter to his chest.

"Hi guys," Jacob said. Edward put Eila down and she ran to her father. She clung to Jacob's leg, smiling shyly at us. Jacob put his hand on her head. "Go say hi," he told her. She cowered back a little bit. Alice knelt down to Eila's level. "See," Jacob said. "Alice is right there, she wants to see you."

Eila cautiously came out from behind Jacob's leg. She saw Bella and Edward every night over a video chat, but she was still a little shy around the rest of us. I thought it was adorable. Alice reached into her back pocket and pulled out a little toy wand that was sparkly and probably only worth a dollar at the store. Eila's little face lit up as Alice handed it to her. She grinned and gave Alice a hug. We all laughed. "What do you say?" Nessie asked Eila.

"Please," Eila said immediately.

"Wrong one," Jacob said.

"Thank-you," Eila said, changing her mind just as quickly.

I busted up laughing, as did most of the rest of my family. It was so cute. "You're very welcome," Alice told her, kissing her on the cheek.

Nessie looked at her watch. It was already nearing nine o'clock, and we still had the drive back to Forks from Seattle. "You guys ready to get going?" She asked.

"Yup," Carlisle said.

"Where's dear old Bryce?" Emmett asked Jacob teasingly. He thought it was hilarious that another member of the wolf pack had imprinted on Eila.

"He's waiting in one of the cars. He's learning how to drive, so the ride up here was pretty interesting."

Emmet chuckled. "Wow. I hope you were wearing your seatbelts."

"Oh yeah," Jacob said. "We ran off the road twice, almost hit a cat, blew a stop sign, and got flipped off by four people. And that was all before we got to the highway."

I was laughing now. "That sounds like me and Zach in drivers ed last year. Then again, we were doing our best to make the teacher pee his pants."

Jacob laughed. "Trust me, I was pretty convinced we were going to die."

Jacob had borrowed both Sam and his truck to help bring us home in. Jacob went in the car with Bryce, and Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper rode with them. Bella, Edward, Alice, Carlisle, and Esme rode in a old SUV Jacob had just recently fixed up for occasions such as this one. Nessie and Eila were in that car as well. That left Julia, Connor, Zach, and me to ride with Sam. It was snowing when we walked outside of course; it was Washington, in the middle of winter.

"Hi," I said, as I lead the way into the cab of Sam's truck.

"Hey," Sam said. "How have you guys been?"

"Awesome," Connor told him, sliding into the passenger's seat. "I'm a Junior. Again. And boy let me tell you, it is getting old. This is my third time in pre-calc and I'm about to die of boredom. The kid next to me is barely passing with a D."

"_Nice_," Sam said. "Are you actually learning anything?"

"I learned that signing up to be a P.E. leader for the freshman class was not one of my smarter choices."

"Nope," Julia said. "I'm officially in competition with about fifteen highly pubescent fourteen-year-old girls."

Sam laughed. "Sounds pretty intense."

"Oh yeah," Julia said. "I tie their shoelaces together and everything."

"How about you Zach?" Sam asked.

"I'm doing alright," he said. He smiled. "School is pretty boring, but I have four classes with Andrea, so not as boring as last year."

I laughed. "We spent a whole physics class throwing little paper balls at the teacher from the back of the room. No one even looked twice at us, it was hilarious. The guy thought it was these two girls in the front row."

"Fun," Sam said.

"So," I said. "How is your family?"

"Good," he said. "Ryan is three, and Jenny is going to be nine soon enough."

"Wow," Julia said. "Nine… fourth grade next year?"

"Yup," Sam said. He sighed. "She's one of the bravest kids I've ever met."

"Head strong?" I asked.

"Hell yeah," Sam said. "She's more of a feminist than Emily is."

I laughed. "That's good, no boy is ever going to take advantage of her."

Sam rolled his eyes. "They sure better not."

Connor laughed. "You're going to have your hands full with your two girls."

"Ah," Sam said. "Jeez, can you let me get them through the sixth grade before we start talking about that?"

"Sorry," Connor said.

Sam hit the brakes suddenly as Bryce swerved off of the road and back on again. "Oh my god," Sam said. "That kid is going to kill somebody."

"Nah," I said, waving my hand dismissively. "Trust me, I've pulled way scarier moves than that one."

Sam laughed. "I bet you have."

The rest of the ride was talkative of course; with me and Julia together, not much could quiet us down. Sam dropped us off at Nessie's house as she pulled in, and Bryce shakily manuevered the car to the curb. He turned the engine off, and Jacob gave him a look that said 'There is no way I'm ever doing that again.'

I saw the ice on the ground, and thought about how slippery it would be for all of the humans around. Nessie pulled a sleeping Eila out of her carseat, and Jacob let us all into their house.

The first thing I noticed when we entered the house is that Nessie and Jacob had finally bought a piano. Nessie played the piano for the schools in the area where she taught music, and she was probably going to start teaching Eila how to play. It didn't look like a very expensive piano, but I'm sure that it would do.

We talked just a little more quietly than we would normally, because we didn't want to wake Eila up. I sat down on the window seat in the living room, and Zach sat next to me. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders, and I leaned into him. He kissed my head, and glanced out the window behind us. "It's sort of beautiful," he said.

I turned to look outside. "You mean the snow?" I said.

"Yeah…" he trailed off.

"The snow you've seen a million times before?" I questioned, letting a little bit of sarcasm drip into my voice.

"Yeah," he said, turning to face me now. "But its not just the snow…" He was abesntmindedly stroking my straight blonde hair. "It's this whole scene… You here with me, in a room with people we love, watching the snow fall."

I cocked my head at him. "I see what you mean…" I said. I smiled. "That was very profound, Zach."

"Hey," he said, putting his hands up in surrender. "I have my moments."

We turned back to face the rest of the room. Nessie had come back from lying Eila down, and she looked like she would probably make it another thirty minutes before she crashed. I looked at my watch, noticing that it was much later than I had thought. Jacob on the other hand looked like he'd probably be able to stay awake for another twenty-four hours. That guy could go the _longest_ times without sleeping.

Nessie stretched her arms out above her head before she sat down next to Jacob on the couch. "Go to sleep," she told him.

I laughed at the de ja voo of the situation. This was practically the same thing that had happened the last time we had come for a visit. I guess some things just never changed…

"I'm fine," he told her. His thumb traced over her hand. "You on the other hand…"

She rolled her eyes and turned to us. "He is _always_ trying to get me to sleep more."

I smirked, laughing at their old-married-couple charade.

"Well," Jacob said, sounding very much like his young-hearted self. "Maybe if you weren't so tired all the time, I wouldn't." He stuck his toungue out at her.

"Who says I'm tired?" Nessie asked.

"No one," Jacob said. "But the fact that you slept through your alarm three days last week does make me think certain things."

She shrugged. "Yeah…." She seemed to shake herself more awake and turned to face us. "So how is work going?" she asked Carlisle.

"Good," he said. "There's much more action there than there _ever_ was here. I mean, there's a lot more pressure, and a lot more to do, but there's also a lot more doctors."

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself," Nessie told him.

"And how about you Ness?" Julia asked her. "How are all of the kids responding to music in their schools now?"

Nessie tilted her head side to side in a nonchalant way. "I mean, they're responding as well as I could expect them to react. The younger students are handling it as if nothing has ever changed, but that's just because they're young, and they're minds can mold more easily. But the older students are having more trouble with it. It's hard to teach the same basic skills to kids who are three, and then to kids who are seventeen. But each year will just get easier I figure. Lesson plans are still kind of hard for me to figure out amoungst all of the schools, but I'm working it out."

"When do you think you'll be able to start incorporating instruments?" Edward asked.

"Probably next year for the High School students. After their first year of music education they'll be able to grasp the concepts of playing an instrument quite easily I think. Once it gets to the point that the three-year-olds I have this year are about eight though, I'll probably be able to get them recorders or something."

"Good," Bella said. "Music is defintley something I wish I had had the opportunity to learn when I was in school. Especially when I was younger."

"Right," Nessie said. "That's what I was thinking about when I decided to try and introduce the idea of music education to the schools. Music was such an important part of my life growing up, I thought other kids should at least have the opportunity to learn about it."

"Is it mandatory for everyone to take it?" Jasper asked.

"Yes," Nessie said. "As of right now at least. But if other teachers need a period to talk to the students for some reason, I'm usually the first person they ask to pull the students from my class."

I nodded. "The music program at our school is really good," I said. "You'd really like to see some of the stuff we do."

I played the violin in the orchestra, and Zach played the string bass. We both loved it, but that was mostly because it was another hour we got to spend together during the day.

"Maybe we'll get to go down there sometime," Nessie said. "When is your next concert?"

"We have one every six weeks, and our holiday one was two weeks ago…. So a month from now," Zach said.

"Hm," Nessie said. "Maybe we could work something out."

She yawned again. "You know," Bella said. "Not to sound like your _mom_, but you really _should_ go to sleep."

Nessie turned around and glared at Jacob. He was very obviously hiding back a smile. "She said it," he told her, holding his hands up in surrender and letting his smile slip out.

Nessie rolled her eyes. "Well _fine!_" she said. She stood up. "Goodnight."

She shut her bedroom door behind her. Jacob was still sitting on the couch.

"So," Alice said. "How have you been doing Jacob?" she asked.

"Alright," he said. "I'm not nearly as busy as I was three years ago at this time," he told her. He sighed. "It was crazy before Eila was born. And it was pretty crazy after too…"

Alice nodded. "It really was…"

"Its really nice, having the eagles," Jacob said. "Sometimes it gets a little wild, but we manage. They can see so much more than we can, and they notice different things. But," he said. "Its hard to communicate sometimes. We try to discuss everything, but sometimes we forget stuff. The other day, I was running around and all of the sudden I could smell all of this blood. Turns out that some hiker had fallen and scraped themselves up pretty badly two days ago. I was freaking out, but Scott had already figured out what had happened and had forgotten to tell us."

"I can see where that would be a problem," Alice said.

Jacob looked at the clock and looked to his bedroom door for a second. "Well," he said, standing up. "Nessie's asleep now. Honestly, I'm exhausted, but don't tell her that. God only knows when she would go to sleep if I went first."

Jasper scoffed. "You guys are crazy," he said.

"Pretty much," Jacob agreed.

The next day was Christmas Eve, and we still had to buy gifts for everyone. So, while everyone slept that night, we started writing down names, and making a list of everyone we had to buy for. We were out the door by four thirty am, driving to Port Angeles, hitting it hard with all of the other Christmas Eve shoppers. I knew what I wanted to get Zach, so I bought that first. Seeing as how we got an early start, we were all finished by noon. We got back to Nessie's house and wrapped all of the presents for about an hour. With our super speed the scissors and tape were literally flying.

That night everyone was getting together for a christmas eve dinner at the big white house that used to be ours. We wouldn't be eating of course, but it would be nice to socialize and catch up. We got to the house around four, after driving through about half of a blizzard. The house was beautiful, all lit up and bright. The glass walls were shining against the snow, and the contrast was perfect. Zach grabbed my hand as we gently padded up the snowy steps to the house, and I smiled to myself.

We were greeted immediatley by the smell of cooking food, chatting people, and an incredible warmth that I could never seem to get over. The stench was also incredible, but I was slowly getting used to it. "Hi!" Leah said when we came in.

"Hey," Bella said. "How is everyone?"

"Awesome," Leah said. She was in the process of chasing her three-year-old, Paige around, making sure she didn't get into trouble.

Paige looked just like her older sister Alexis. They both had Leah's pretty face, with Joel's frighteningly unnatural electric blue eyes. Leah scooped up Paige and plopped her down with the rest of the younger kids. They were all being entertained by a highly competitive game of ping-pong being played between Adam and Corey.

"Merry Christmas," someone said from across the room.

"Merry Christmas," I immediatley responded back.

I always liked coming back to this house and seeing how much it had changed. You could tell that it was occupied by many more people now. I walked into the living room and saw that there were no empty seats, so Zach and I stood near the couch. Standing or sitting, it didn't make a difference to me.

Rosalie came up and stood beside me. Emmett was talking to Paul and Rachel in one of the corners of the house. "Wow," Rosalie said. She glanced around the room quickly. "I haven't seen this room so full in a long time."

She was right. The room was packed with familiar faces in every corner. People were sitting everywhere. The windowseat, the couches, the chairs in the kitchen, all of them were completley full. People were stretched across the floor and leaning against the walls. It was nice to see everyone so happy.

Several people were in the kitchen attempting to cook enough food for everyone, and I heard timers going off every few seconds. I jerked my thumb towards the kitchen and told Zach I was heading in there to help set up. The big kitchen table we had left wouldn't do any good in a house this full, so there were at least six big folding tables leading off into the living room and all the way to the foot of the stairs in the other direction. I knew that they had made sure that there would be enough chairs for everyone to be able to sit around the tables.

The massive garage had been turned into the serving area, and I helped bring all the food out onto the tables set up out there. There was _so_ much, but I knew that all of it would be eaten. "Food's ready!" I called about thirty minutes later.

I heard everyone standing up in the other rooms, and I made my way to the back of the line with the rest of my family. Eila was with Jacob in line, but Nessie was toward the back of the line, with her parents. As I walked past, Eila grabbed my legs and looked up smiling at me. I smiled back at her. I picked her up and spun her around really fast. Her eyes were out of focus when I finished spinning, and she was laughing hysterically. I gently set her on the ground and bent down to her level. I held her hips so the dizziness wouldn't make her fall over.

I pulled her ear close to my mouth. "I have a secret ," I told her. She giggled at me. "I think that you are the prettiest little girl alive." She giggled even more severely. "And I love you very much."

She kissed my cheek, and her warm flesh only made my throat burn a little. She went back in line with Jacob, and hid behind his long legs. He absentmindedly stroked her hair.

I waved hi to several people on my way to the back of the winding line. Zach wrapped his arms around me when I got there. We took our seats when the line moved us into the kitchen. I sat with Zach on my left, and Ashley to my right. Wyatt was next to her. The sound of forks hitting plates and knives scraping against food was loud in my ears.

"Excuse me," Lyssie said from the other end of the table about halfway through the meal. Several people got quiet, and it was a domino effect after that. Everyone was looking at Lyssie within a minutes time. I saw Edward roll his eyes and he leaned his face against his hand. "I just thought you guys should know that I'm pregnant."

There was approximatley one beat of silence. I burst out laughing, and several people started cheering. Judging by the wide-eyed, eyebrows-up, open-mouth expression that Micheal was wearing, he hadn't known until just now. He wrapped her in his arms, and started laughing right along with everyone else. "You _lied_ to me!" Leah said to Lyssie as the laughter quieted down. "I asked you if you were pregnant and you said no!"

"Yes," Lyssie said. "Yes I did."

"Yeah," Mikayla said. "And I lied to Lyssie." She cleared her throat. "I'm pregnant too."

A highly similar reaction occurred.

"Me too," Natalie said quietly, but I heard, and so did Jeremy.

"Me three," Jocelyn said in her loud voice.

"Me four," Amber said.

"Oh my gosh," Bella said, and she put her head on the table. "This is crazy."

I could barely hear her over the rucus, and that was saying something considering I could hear a pin drop during a tornado. I was laughing harder than I had laughed in a really long time, and so was Zach.

"So…." Carlisle said. "Five of you are pregnant?"

"So it appears," Lyssie said.

"Well," he said. He threw his hands up in the air. "Good luck with that."

Seeing as Carlisle was the only doctor in the world who wouldn't question the extremely high tempereatures the wolves and the eagles had, he had delivered every one of the children here. Well, he and whoever volunteered to help him. Bella and Edward had when they were working at the hospital, and Rosalie and Esme had stepped in when they needed extra help. This would be one of those times. Abbey, Seth's wife, was acutually the OB/GYN at the Forks hospital; she had just recently graduated from med school.

Edward had pulled out a small pad of paper that he kept in his pocket and was writing on it very rapidly. "Ok," he said a minute later. Most of the people at the table turned to look at him. The kids were either eating their dinner, or looking very confused as to what was going on. It was pretty funny. "So," he glanced at his paper again. "If I'm right, we're going to need somewhere between six and eleven volunteers."

"I'm in," Leah said.

Edward wrote her name down on the paper. Several other woman volunteered, and he wrote their names down too.

He put the pen down. "This is scary," he said.

"You're not supposed to say that," Lyssie told him.

"But hey," Bella said. "On the bright side, we've got nine months to figure this all out."

"Do we?" Carlisle asked.

"Yeah, you might want to make that more like eight months for me," Lyssie said.

"Yeah," Mikayla agreed.

Edward casually folded his arms across his chest. "How fast can you get an ultra sound machine?" he asked Carlisle.

"About an hour," Carlisle said. "But its going to involve me breaking into the hospital."

"Uh," Bella said. "No."

"Okay then," Carlisle said. "If I put it on rush," he said. "I might be able to get it here in a week."

"Really?" Edward asked.

"It's all about who you know," Carlisle said. "And I know a lot of people."

"So…" I said. "If we're lucky, we'll get it a couple of days before we have to leave."

"Yes," Carlisle said. "And, if my dates are correct, we'll need to fly back here at the end of July."

"Right," Lyssie said.


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

After dinner we passed out presents. It took nearly until midnight for all of the gifts to be opened, and we didn't leave for Nessie's house until the early hours of the morning, a sleeping Eila on Jacob's shoulder.

On the last day of the year, all of us were planning on heading up to Port Angeles for the morning to do some shopping, and Julia wanted to check out a new music store up there. She was looking for a new guitar, since she had been playing the one she had now for nearly fifteen years. Nessie, Jacob, and Eila weren't coming though. Nessie had some lesson plans she had to take care of, and Jacob was working on something for the wolfpacks, I hadn't heard what. We offered to take Eila, but Nessie said it was alright, Eila didn't bother her when she was working.

The day started out well. The music store had been awesome. I found a really cool violin case with plenty of room for all of my accessories, and I bought a new bow. Zach found some stuff as well, and Julia found the guitar she was looking for. Edward bought some new music. The clerk gave him a strange look when he bought it, seeing as the music was written for advanced proffessionals, not something your average seventeen-year-old would be playing.

It wasn't until the drive home that everything changed.

Bella's cell phone vibrated and she flipped it open before there could've even been one ring.

"Hello?" she answered calmly.

"Bella," Jacob said. He didn't sound panicked, just a little worried. "Have you talked to Nessie lately?"

"Not since we left this morning," Bella said. "Why? What's wrong?"

"Well, she texted me at noon that she was going hunting with Eila. It's five o'clock and she's not back yet," he stated.

"We're on our way back right now," Bella said. At that particular moment Edward stepped on the accelerator. We were going pretty fast, even for us. "We'll be there in approximatley fifteen minutes."

"I'm going to go look for her," Jacob said.

"Be careful," Bella said, but he was already hanging up.

We were silent for a few seconds after Bella hung up the phone.

"She probably just went further north than usual," Edward said calmly. Bella squeezed his hand tightly.

"Probably," she agreed, just the same.

Jacob didn't call again until we were literally pulling into the driveway.

"Hello?" Bella answered. She was speaking incredibly fast.

"I found Eila," Jacob said. It sounded like he wasn't breathing. "She's... she's…" he gasped. "Not good. Bella, please help me, please…"

I didn't get to hear what else he said, because at that moment, I was running faster than I ever had in my life. Julia, who was normally much faster than me, was racing to keep up. All the same, Edward and Bella were ahead of me. It was easy to follow Jacob's trail, his smell was strong, and very familiar.

I couldn't have been prepared for what I saw.

Jacob, rigid, was kneeling on the ground, bent over a small, mangled body. I stopped, sliding to my knees and ripping my jeans, next to Jacob. Edward, completley oblivious to me, knocked me out of the way. I slid through the muddy forest floor, landing on my front. I didn't even notice. I jumped back to my feet.

Eila looked like someone had literally taken her, and thrown her to the ground repetedly. Her wrist was bent at a strang angle. Her face looked like it had been slit with a knife, over and over again. There were deep, long cuts from her temple all the way down to her chin on both sides of her face. Her clothes were ripped, and she was cut on her stomach and legs as well. Her nose was clearly broken, and her lips were blue and cut. She was unconscious. Only a few seconds had passed since we had got there.

"Eila..." Edward said, completley astonished.

"Nessie!" Bella said loudly, snapping us all back to reality. "Where is she? Nessie!" She called. She was off and running before anyone had even comprehended the words she spoke, quicker than a lightning strike. I heard her calling for her daughter, and something inside of me snapped.

Whoever had done this, whoever had broken Eila like this, was as good as dead in my books.

I called for Nessie too. I could smell her scent, but it was taking me in circles.

I stopped, surrounded only by the wilderness for one breif second, holding my breath.

The faintest sound, a single word.

"Mom…"

That was all I needed to send me running in the direction of the voice that could only be Nessie's.

When I found her, I didn't even pause. "Help!" I yelled, louder than I normally would have, had I not been panicked. "I need help!"

Bella was next to me in seconds. That's when I took a good look at Nessie for the first time.

If Eila had been bad, there were no words for Nessie. Her hair was caked with blood from the long cut on her scalp, and her face was barely recognizable. Her chocolate brown eyes were fluttering, and were full of fear. Her leg was bent unnatuarlly, and she had blood dripping off of massive, deep cuts all over her body. She was black and blue, and covered with mud. She was shaking from cold, something that never happened because of her high body temperature. She was losing so much blood.

"Shh," Bella said. "Shh Nessie, stay quiet baby, its okay, its okay."

"Eila," Nessie said. "Mom…." Her voice was so quiet, I could barely hear it.

"She's with Jacob," Bella said, leaving out the gruesome details. "Its alright."

Bella rubbed the blood out of Nessie's eyes. "Who did this to you?" Bella asked her daughter gently.

Nessie was fighting consciousness. "I didn't know who it was…" she muttered. "I couldn't see their face. They didn't say anything until right before they left…" she was shaking so badly, she could barely speak. "They whispered in my ear," she was crying now. "They said, 'You tell that family of yours… we always get what we want. Always. '" She was really fading out now.

"Nessie," Bella said calmly. "Nessie, you need to stay awake, baby, you have to stay awake."

But Nessie was already passed out. "Edward!" Bella called for him. "Edward!"

He came quickly, and his pained face was as crumpled as Bella's. Edward bent down and gently scooped Nessie into his arms. "I'm bringing her back to her house," he said calmly.

"Don't let her see Eila," Bella whispered to him.

He nodded, and soon we were off, racing back to the house again.

Everyone else was already back. Jasper, Emmett, Alice, Rosalie, Julia, and Connor were off running to let the others know what had happened.

When I came in, the sight was a little frightening. Someone had spread a white sheet over the top of the kitchen table, and Carlisle was working over Eila, the contents of his bag spread out around her. He was stitching something so quickly, I knew how important it must have been to get the bleeding to stop. "Edward," Carlisle said. "Put Nessie in the bedroom, Esme stripped the bed down. Stitch the cuts for now, be extemely careful on her face. Leave her leg for now, set it when you get the chance."

Edward did as he instructed, but I stayed out with Carlisle and Eila. At that moment, Carlisle reached up and set Eila's nose into place; it made a slight pop. "Jacob," Carlisle said. Jacob was standing at Eila's head, and the tears in his eyes were breaking my heart. "Put your hands on her shoulders, she's getting hypothermia." Jacob gently put his hands on his little girl's shoulders.

Carlisle moved to her face then, and Jacob moved out of his way, not taking his hands off of her little body. Carlisle scanned her face. "The good news is," he told Jacob. "Not all of these need stitches. I can get by with liquid-stitch for a few, and that will help her healing process."

I could see that Carlisle had left a few of the wounds bleeding. "Andrea," Carlisle said. "Can you please take a sterilizer and clean the cuts that I left unstitched?"

"Yes," I said calmly. Eila's blood didn't bother me much, seeing as a quarter of it was vampire, and half of it was werewolf.

I cleaned the wounds silently, noticing how some weren't as bad as the others. I could hear Edward and Bella working in the next room over. I tried not to look at Eila's face. I was trying to stay emotionally unattatched from the situation. "Take the package labeled medi-wrap," Carlisle said to me. "And gently wrap those cuts, leave the three deepest ones, they'll need liquid-stitch. The medi-wrap has a gel on the edges that will stick to skin, just put a little pressure on it."

"Got it," I said. I found the package and ripped off a piece. I found the three deepest cuts quickly, and began to wrap the cuts around it.

Carlisle had stitched Eila's pretty little face, on all five of the long cuts from her temple to her cheek. I hoped with everything I had that she wouldn't be scarred. I didn't think that the healing properties she had inherited from her parents would allow her to scar, but just the same.

Carlisle was looking at the cuts on her stomach now. He seemed a little worried. "These cuts go all the way through the muscle," he stated. I didn't look to see what he did next, I was busy doing my part, sealing the cuts I could. When I looked up the next time, Carlisle had put at least two dozen stiches in the three cuts that ripped her apart in the middle.

"She is not going to be having much fun while that heals," Carlisle said. He moved to set her wrist, and casted it with a splint. His hands were highly practiced, and he didn't think twice about doing this.

Jacob seemed detatched at this point. He wasn't saying anything, and his eyes were blank. He didn't even seem like he noticed when Carlisle spoke.

"Okay," Carlisle said. He gave Eila a once-over. "She'll be fine for now," he said. "We need to let her body rest, allow it to start healing itself. He took a second to think. "She needs to be moved to her bed," he said decisively. "Jacob," he said. "Be careful not to move her wrist, but other than that, she's stable enough to move."

Jacob looked up and nodded at him with those blank eyes, and lifted his small daughter into his arms. I opened her bedroom door for him, and he lay her down gently. Esme came in the room then. "Jacob," she said. He looked at her. "Nessie is going to need you," Esme said. "She's still semi-conscious. She'll be very frightened."

I saw a flicker of emotion pass through Jacob's eyes at the sound of Nessie's name, but that was all. "Right," he said. He looked down at Eila.

"I'll stay here with her," Esme said. "She'll be fine until you come back."

Jacob pondered that for a very brief moment. Then he bent down and kissed Eila on the head, brushing her hair off her face and neck. I followed him out of the room, and into the master bedroom.

Esme had been right, Nessie was still semi-conscious. Her eyes were open when I saw her, and they were fearful.

I watched as Jacob bent down by Nessie's face, staying out of the way of her working family. As I watched him look at her, it was like a damn breaking inside of his eyes. His blank face was suddenly washed with emotion. He wasn't scared, just sad. He looked at Nessie like she was the world falling apart, which I'm sure is what it felt like to him.

"Jacob," she whispered to him. She gasped as the stiches made their way up her right arm.

"It's okay," Jacob told her just as quietly. He took her bandaged left hand, and held it between both of his. "Everything's going to be just fine."

"Eila," Nessie whispered, and I could see the tears rolling down her cheeks.

"She's with Esme," Jacob told her.

Nessie whimpered, and moaned as Carlisle set her broken leg into place. "It hurts so bad, Jacob," she told him. "Everything hurts."

Jacob Black wasn't the type to cry. I had never seen it myself, not really. He had been hurt while watching Eila get bandaged, but it was nothing compared to the look on his face now. His eyes were streaming, but he made no sound. "I know," he said. He rested his head on the hand he held. "I know." He kissed her fingers.

Nessie cried as Carlisle sewed the cut on her scalp shut, and Jacob cried with her. No one was saying much, just enough so that they could communicate what needed to be done.

When they finished with her head, they moved to her face. They had to sew as many stitches on her as they had Eila. They turned her head up, so that she couldn't see Jacob. She was still crying. Bella held her daughter's head still while Carlisle and Edward each took a side, and began to sew. Nessie let out a few whimpers and gasps, but didn't let her pain be heard very often.

Bella talked to Nessie during those few minutes. She told her about anything and everything. She told her about the new music store, and how much she would love it. She told her about her stupid high school classes, and the way she found P.E. much easier, but hated it just the same. "They make me climb that damn rope every week," she told Nessie. "I hate it."

Both Carlilse and Edward stood back and looked at Nessie when they finished with her face, and Bella let her head go. Her eyes immediatley found Jacob's again. "Well," Carlisle said. "That'll be the worst of it, Ness."

Nessie smiled, and winced through all of her stitches. "Good," she said.

"You won't need to be stitched for long," Carlisle continued. "I would say probably only about seventy-two hours or so. That leg is going to take a couple weeks though, it was broken pretty badly."

"'Kay," Nessie said. Her eyes were drooping, and Jacob carefully wiped the leftover tears off of her face. She was asleep within minutes.

I followed Bella out of the room, but I didn't think Jacob would be coming out any time soon.

Its strange. The calm after the storm. An hour ago, we had charged into this house and tore apart the peaceful silence with fear and anger. It was silent now. All I could hear were the beating hearts and slow, steady breathing. No one knew quite what to say.

I didn't know how long we sat there like that. I lost track of time. My mind was somewhere else, somewhere where this hadn't happened. I was sitting in the parking lot at school, in Zach's arms. It was quiet there. Nobody was hurt there. It was just us.

Zach was next to me, but we were different now. We hadn't seen people we loved hurt like that before this. We would always have this now, there was no going back. I thought about what this would be like, a hundred years from now. Things would be different then. Different how, I didn't know.

It wasn't until we heard Eila cry out that any of us moved. She wasn't crying, she was calling for her daddy. She sounded scared, and very, very alone. I heard the door to the master bedroom open, and then Jacob going into Eila's bedroom.

None of us went in with Jacob, we unverbally decided that we didn't need to if all she wanted was comfort from her dad. I listened closely to what she said.

"They were mean, daddy," she told him. "They took me away from mommy." She was crying, and I realized just how traumatized she was going to be. "I couldn't see them, and they were hitting me. They told me to stop screaming, or else they would kill me. So I tried super hard to be quiet, but I was very afraid, and I could hear mommy calling for me, but I couldn't call back." She was sobbing, and I thought Jacob might be crying as well.

"I know," Jacob said to Eila. "But everything's going to be okay, mommy's just in the other room. She's sleeping."

There was a short moment of silence, and I heard the covers rustling in Eila's room. "Why is there white stuff all over me?" she asked, referring to the bandages.

"They're helping you get better," he said.

"Daddy," she said. "Don't cry, I'm okay now."

Jacob chuckled through his tears. "I know," he said. "I love you, E."

"I love you too," she told him. He didn't leave until her breathing was slow and even again.

When Jacob came out, he didn't go back into Nessie's room, but came into the living room where we were sitting.

He took the recliner by the window, and looked out of it with blank eyes. We sat like that for several minutes. Then he said, "I think I'm probably the worst dad in the world right now." He was mostly talking to himself.

"Why do you think that?" Bella asked him a few moments later.

Jacob sighed. "I didn't think to go look for them sooner."

"Why would you have thought to go look for them?" Bella asked him.

Jacob thought for a very long time. I was starting to think that he hadn't heard her. Then he said, "I wouldn't have."

"Exactly," Bella said. "There was absolutley nothing that would've made you think that you should have been worried."

Jacob sighed. "I still feel bad."

"I know," Bella said soothingly. "But that's normal."

"Yeah…" Jacob said, taking a deep breath.

We were silent for a while longer. "Who did it?" Zach asked suddenly. "Or am I the only one wondering that?"

"Everyone is wondering that," Edward said. "You're just the only one who asked."

Bella repeated what Nessie had told her about who had hurt her.

"I think its rather obvious," I said.

"Maybe," Edward said. "Or maybe its just the assumption that's obvious."

No one said the Volturi's name, but everyone knew who were were talking about.

Jacob pulled his fingers through his hair. "I have to tell Bryce," he said.

"I totally forgot about him," Bella said.

"Me too," Jacob said. "But I'm sure Eila didn't."

"I can tell him if you want," I said. "You stay here, I'll go find him."

"He's probably going to freak out," Jacob warned me.

"I know," I said. "I will too."

I sprinted out the back door before there could be any more discussion. The run to find Bryce was strange for me. Even though I knew my family, some of the wolves, and some of the eagles were out here, the forest felt unsafe to me. I knew the dangers were long gone, my nose had made sure of that. The survival instinct in me was stronger than the logical one though.

I wasn't sure where Bryce was. He wasn't at either of his sister's houses, where he sometimes liked to stay. He wasn't visiting his parents, or out in the woods. I went to the big white house next. I couldn't tell if he was there, the disgusting smell of all the wolves and eagles mixed together was overwhelming. I went in, noting that Alice, Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper, Julia, and Connor were still there.

The kids were no where to be seen, but all of the adults were gathered in the kitchen, asking questions when I walked out of the rain and in through the back door.

"Hi," I said.

"Hi," Rosalie said back.

"Has anyone seen Bryce?"

Just then, the front door slammed open and Bryce came in, shaking off the rain like a dog. He looked worried, and really confused.

He took one look at all of standing around, and asked, "What happened?" He walked into the kitchen quickly. "Where's Jacob?"

The panic in his eyes was a little frightening.

I took in a deep breath. "Bryce," I said slowly. "You should probably sit down."

He sat down in a chair quickly. "What happened?" Bryce asked again.

I thought about how to phrase the news. "Nessie and Eila were out hunting," I told him. "And they didn't come back for a while, so Jacob went to look for them."

Bryce was completley still, not moving his eyes anywhere but mine, imploring me to keep talking. I sighed quickly. "They were hurt Bryce," I said. "Someone hurt them."

Bryce was tougher than I thought. His jaw was clenched, but his eyes were changing. The walls that all teenage boys had put up were sliding down, and he couldn't do anything about it. He wasn't crying, but his eyes were full of pain. "How bad?" He asked through clenched teeth. His hands were in a fist, and I recognized the familiar position of a wereworlf trying desperatley not to transfrom.

"Eila's not so bad," I told him. "Especially not compared to Nessie," I said. "She's pretty bruised up, and she's going to be really sore. Her nose was broken, and so was her wrist. They'll heal though," I promised him.

Each new injury looked like a punch to the gut for Bryce. He still wasn't crying, but I could tell he was really trying hard to hold the tears back. It was heart wretching to watch. "She's stiched up in a few places," I told him. "But I don't think there will be scars."

Bryce put his head facedown on the table and I knew he was finally crying. Sam sat down next to him at the table, but I knew he was just letting Bryce know he wasn't alone. "How's Jacob?" Sam asked me.

I shrugged my shoulders a little. "He's definitley in shock," I told him. "We don't have any painkillers that will work on Nessie… and she was awake." I shuddered a little. "He held her… but it was scary for everyone. Bella tried to talk to her… but she was just crying." I ran my fingers through my hair, shaking my head. "She was in a lot of pain." I was silent for a little. "Carlisle was scared," I said a minute later. "And so were Edward and Bella…" I felt the dry tears in my eyes, and I knew Sam would hear them in my voice. "I was terrified."

Alice came over to me a squeezed my hand. "You were braver than me," she said. "All of you were. I could see what was coming for Edward and Bella, and I didn't want to see that. That's why I volunteered to leave." She shook her head. "I'm a little bit of a coward I guess."

I shook my head. "You're no coward, Alice," I told her. "You just have more to be scared of than the rest of us."

Bryce sat up, and put his head in his hands. "I want to see her," he said.

He was very quiet, but other than that, I wouldn't have been able to tell that he had been crying. "Okay," I said. "But Bryce," I shook my head. "You can't fall apart. You just can't. She'll be scared, and she needs to stay calm now. She's going to be in a lot of pain once the numbing effects of the sanitizing cream Carlisle used wear off. She woke up once already, and she's traumatized Bryce. They took her from her mom. She had to hear them beat Nessie. She's going to need you to be the Bryce she knows, not the Bryce who's terrified."

Bryce had kept his head in his hands this whole time, but hadn't started crying again I don't think. He sat in silence for a while, and then sat up. "Okay," he said.

"Alright," I said. "I just wanted you to be as prepared as possible."

"Do you know when they're going to want visitors?" Leah asked calmly.

I thought for a moment. "Nessie's got at least three rough days in front of her where she won't want any visitors. Eila might need company in thirty-six hours or so."

"Alright," Leah said. "Please call if there's anything we can do. Even if you just want someone to sit with Eila while you sleep, or hunt or whatever. We're just down the street, we'd be there in a second."

"Thanks," I said. "I'll let Jacob know."

"Don't let him cook his own food," Leah warned us. "He's horrible at it."

I smiled. "I'll make sure he doesn't."

Bryce and I ran through the woods a little slower than I normally would. He wasn't nearly as fast as Jacob or Leah, but much faster than Brooke or Kyle.

The house was quiet when we got there. Bryce and I let ourselves in the back door. I could hear the slow breathing of Nessie and Eila, but the others were completley silent. They looked like they hadn't moved the whole time I was gone.

Jacob stood up when we got there. Bryce was extremely tall, and he was a giant to me. He was at least an inch taller than Emmett. Jacob though, towered over Bryce. He was a head taller than him, and much more muscular. Jacob was alpha, and every strand of twisted DNA in Jacob's body knew that.

Jacob nodded at Bryce. "She's asleep," he told her. You could tell that he had been crying by his rough voice, but Bryce didn't comment. "You can go in and see her if you want, but try to be quiet."

Bryce nodded. I didn't follow him into the room, he probably just wanted to be alone with Eila. I didn't think he cried when he saw her, but he had been silent before. His breathing stayed even the whole time.


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER NINE**

Suddenly, Nessie's breathing became faster, and we heard her moaning. "Jacob..." she called.

Jacob stood up and quickly walked to their bedroom. He oppened the door, and left it open. "Ness," he said. "What's wrong?"

I heard her sniff, and I saw him gently wipe the tears off of her face. "I have to tell you something," she said.

He stroked her hair gently. "Alright," he said. "I'm right here listening."

She reached out and grabbed ahold of his hand. He held it gently, as if it was made of glass. Her breathing was labored, and I could hear the worry in her voice when she spoke. "I'm pregnant," she said.

Jacob was very still for a very long time. "Are you sure?" he asked quietly.

She was crying. "Yeah," she said. "I took the pregnancy test early this morning, you were still asleep. The test is in the medicine cabinet, top shelf, left side." She sniffed again. "I was going to tell you tonight," she cried. "I'm so sorry."

"No, no," he said. "Sh, sweetie I'm not mad. You barely had a chance to tell me before this."

"I'm so scared," she told him. "What if the baby's not okay? They threw me on the ground, twice. I don't know how deep they cut on my stomach…" she was really crying now.

"It's going to be okay," he told her. He pulled her in close, so that she was presssed up against him a little. "No matter what, it's going to be okay, I promise."

She was still crying. "I don't know how we're going to know," she said. "I'll only be able to tell if he moves or something." She sighed. "I'm a lot further along than I was when I found out with Eila. I was in denial for about two weeks. I can already feel the bump forming."

Jacob smiled at her. I could just see it out of the corner of my eye. "We're going to be parents again," he whispered to her.

She smiled too, but winced. "Yeah," she said. "How'd that happen?"

Jacob laughed. "I have no idea."

Nessie sighed softly. "I hope everything's okay…"

"Me too," Jacob said. He kissed her on the forehead. "Get some sleep okay?"

"'Kay," she said.

"How's your pain level?" he asked her.

"We're pushing a nine and a half," she said. "But I'm good."

"I like the positive attidtude."

"I try."

He sat with her for a few more minutes, and came out when she was sleeping again. He didn't sit when he came out again. He folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the wall. "Tell me," he said calmly, but totally serious. "What are the chances that that baby wasn't hurt at all today?"

Carlisle sighed. "The chances of the baby being alive are good. The chances of the baby being hurt could go either way. He might be born with bruises, but he's got quite a while to heal inside Nessie's womb. I would say the chances are fairly good that there's nothing wrong, especially with the genes that this baby has."

Jacob nodded his head. "Thank God," he said. "I just wish that there was someway we could know sooner."

"Well," Carlisle said. "If she can already feel a bump, there will probably be a detectable heart beat in a few days, if she follows the same paterns as with Eila. We need to be careful though," he said. "She might start to bleed out in the next few days. We'll have to pay attention to that."

"Right," Jacob said. He shook his head, trying to clear it. "I can't believe she's pregnant again."

"Yeah," Bella said. "Me neither. I didn't think you guys were going to have anymore kids."

Jacob gave her a look. "Neither did we."

"Oh," Bella said. "That's… lovely."

"Yep," Jacob said.

Bryce was still with Eila, and I knew that it would probably be a while before he came out.

"I just thought of something," Jacob said. He scratched his head. "I have no idea how we're going to come up with a name for this kid."

"Hmph," Bella said. "Well, good luck with that."

"Gee, thanks," Jacob said. By now, it was very late. It was nearing midnight.

"You should go to sleep Jacob," Bella said.

He was sitting on the floor now, and looked at her. "I'm not sure why everyone always tells me that."

"Because you always look tired," she said. "I don't think that you've gotten a good nights sleep since you turned sixteen."

He scoffed. "Yeah, I don't think so either." He shook his head. "Besides, even when I can, I don't sleep through the night."

"Why not?" Bella asked.

He shrugged. "I worry," he said. "About everyone." He twisted his neck a little and I heard the bones crack. "My pack I mean. Seth, Leah, Quil, Embry, Joel, Brooke, and Bryce. I worry about the others too, just… not as much." Jacob shook his head. "When Bryce got shot last year… man, I was scared. I was really, truly scared." He sighed. "I'll wake up in the middle of the night," he said. "And I'll go check on Eila. And then I'll sit at the back door and watch to make sure whoever is supposed to be out there is out there. Then I look for their buddy. Then sometimes I go look out the front window to see who has lights on, and who doesn't. I check my cell phone for texts, and missed calls." He smiled a little. "It doesn't happen every night, but I always do that. If I'm awake, I'm checking on something."

We were quiet for a moment. "Does Sam do that too?" Bella asked.

"Yes," Jacob said. "And I think he does it more often than I do, and for longer periods. He has more people to check on. Four kids, and Jared, Paul, Collin, Brady, Caleb, Jeremy, Matt, Lucas, Nathan, Kyle, Wyatt, Kaylie, and Lauren to worry about. He sometimes goes to bed at midnight, wakes up at one, looks out for everyone else, runs a shift at three, then goes home and starts his day. Dan is just the same."

"That's weird," Zach said.

"Definitley," Jacob agreed. "I can't help it though. I don't know why."

"I think it just means that you're definitley a leader," Bella said. "Naturally, I mean."

Jacob nodded. "Well," he sighed. "My bloodline sure thinks so."

"Sleep," Bella said a moment later. "Otherwise you'll miss something important."

"'Kay," Jacob said.

It never ceased to amaze me how Jacob seemed able to fall asleep wherever and whenever he was able to. He tilted his head back a little, and was soon sleeping. He was way more exhausted than I would've guessed; he wasn't even snoring.

"He really does need to sleep more," Bella said to herself.

"Mhm," I agreed.

"So," Edward said. "Any idea where that ultrasound machine we ordered is?"

"I got a notice saying that they should be delivering it about five days from now."

"Good," Edward said. "Even faster than you had thought."

"I pulled quite a few strings," Carlisle said.

"Work what you've got," Bella said. "Good things usually happen."

A few hours later, things were getting pretty rough. The pain medicine was wearing off, and Eila had woken up from the pain. Bryce was still with her.

She was crying, but very quietly. "Bryce," she said when she woke up.

"I'm right here," he said.

"It hurts," she said. She let out a small, quiet sob. Jacob's head snapped up from where he was still sleeping on the floor.

"I know," Bryce said.

Jacob stood up. He didn't say a word. "Jacob," Carlisle said quietly.

Jacob glanced at him. "I can't give her anything," he said. "Not for another seventy-five minutes."

"'Kay," Jacob said. "Awesome."

Eila was crying, and I thought Bryce was too. "I'm going to stay here," Bryce said, and I could hear the tears in his voice. "I'm going to be right here."

Eila was crying a little louder now, and I could hear Nessie waking up. She was wincing, and I heard her gasp in pain. "Eila…" she called.

Jacob immediatley walked into her room. "Sh, Ness," he said. "Bryce is with her," he said. "Everything's going to be okay."

"Jacob," she said. She was very quiet, her voice was shaking. "It hurts so bad…"

"I know," he said. "Just hang in there, okay?"

"I'm trying," she said. "Why would someone do this?" she asked. "Why would someone hurt us?"

"I don't know, Nessie," Jacob said.

"Jacob," Nessie said. I could hear her crying. "Please stay with me."

"Of course," Jacob said. His voice broke a little. "I'm sorry I left."

She didn't say anything to that. For a while, all I could hear was her crying quietly, and Bryce gently talking to Eila in the next room over.

I didn't understand. I didn't understand how someone- most likely the Volturi- could ever hurt anyone this badly. It was the same thing as torturing someone, in my opinion. Nessie wasn't innocent, she had seen evil in her life, but this was horrendous. Eila was just a child. She had never known pain or suffering, she had never seen death. It was like killing a baby.

Nessie moaned. Jacob winced slightly at the sound. "It hurts to breathe," Nessie said. "It hurts to flinch."

"I know," Jacob said. "Carlisle said he can give you more medicine in a little over an hour, so just hang in there."

Nessie whimpered, and kept crying. Jacob stayed there with her. Zach came into sit with me where I was in the kitchen. I curled into his lap like I had so many times before. He held me tight, leaning his head on mine.

I didn't know what I would do if someone had hurt Zach like this. I would be helpless, not able to do anything to relieve his pain. I was so mad at the people who had hurt Nessie and Eila… I would want to_ kill_ anyone who ever hurt Zach.

I looked up at him, and he looked like he had been thinking the same thing about me. I snuggled into his chest and held onto him tightly. I wondered if we could just stay there like that forever, Zach and I, me wrapped up in his arms. He right where I could always find him, never anywhere that I couldn't see him.

Of course, right about then, reality came back to me, and Nessie was crying in the next room over. Someone had hurt her and Eila, and we had to deal with it. The stress was almost a physical presence in this house, I could feel the weight of it.

Zach jerked his thumb toward the back door, and I nodded. I climbed off of his lap and we both walked out the door. I grabbed his hand, but we didn't start running like we normally would. We walked, just a tad faster than a human would.

"This is crazy," Zach said.

"I know," I said.

We walked quietly for a little bit. "Are you scared?" he asked me few moments later.

"Yes," I answered immediatley.

He was quiet for a while, thoughtful. "Do you know how easily that could've been you laying there?" he asked me quietly.

I didn't respond.

"I'm terrified," he said.

We kept walking. I didn't know where we were going, but wherever Zach went was fine with me. We were silent, and I squeezed Zach' s hand hard, trying to hold him close to me, like I wouldn't ever have to let him go. He stopped, pulling me into his arms. "I'm scared to let you go," he said. "I'm scared to let you out of my sight, scared something bad will happen if I do."

He held me tightly, to the point that it was a little uncomfortable, but I knew how he felt. He was much stronger than I was though. He could literally hold me here forever if he wanted to. He brought his lips to mine, and I thought that we could stay like that. Just us, standing here in the middle of the woods, never moving. Just him kissing me.

He pulled me into his arms after a while so that he wouldn't have to bend down. I jumped willingly, and I wrapped my legs around his middle. He held me with his hands on my back pockets. I let him sit down with me, and I broke away from the kiss just so I could see his gold eyes. He was staring into mine like he always did, not once cowering away from my blazing stare.

"I love you," he whispered into my ear.

"I love you too," I told him.

I put my lips to his again, and he let me push him to the ground. I could taste the venom on his teeth, and I pressed my body to his. He pulled himself closer to me, and I pressed myself to him. I put my hands on his shirt buttons, and slowly undid them. I slid my hands up and down his bare chest, and he rolled over so that he was suddenly on top of me.

He pushed himself off of me and I heard his teeth snap together. He was over me in a push up position with all of his weight on his arms. "Andrea," he said to me in a clear, yet quiet voice. "No," he said. "Not now… Not when I'm this… scared. I don't want it to be like this."

I closed my eyes and let the hormone crash pull me under for a second. It was horrible for a moment, but my logical mind knew that it wasn't because he didn't want me. It was because he didn't want me when we were like this. When we were this terrified.

He rolled over so that he was lying next to me. He wrapped his arms around me, and I curled up next to him. "I'm sorry, Andrea," he said.

"There's nothing to be sorry for," I told him. I placed my head near his still heart.

"Someday," he said. He played with my hair. "Someday, I'm going to marry you Andrea."

"I know," I told him. I sighed, running my fingers over his chest. "Someday…"

He burried his face in my blonde hair and kissed my head. "I promise."

I loved him. I loved him more than I had ever loved anyone in my whole life. I just didn't know how to tell him. I held him close to me, and his tall body could easily cover my small one. We laid like that for a while.

After I while, it started to rain, like it always did in Forks. "Come on," I said. I patted his chest. "Let's go to the house. There will at least be people there, and they'll all want as much news as we have."

"Alright," he said. We stood up, and sprinted as fast as we could to the house. It was pouring by the time we got there, and we were soaked. We went in through the back door. All of the adults were still standing around, much like the last time I had been here to get Bryce. Julia and Connor were still there, but Alice, Rosalie, Emmett, and Jasper were no where to be seen.

Zach and I shook ourselves off at the door, and we walked inside. Everyone looked at us expectantly. "They woke up," I said. "And its getting ugly."

Someone sighed. "How terrible," Claire said. "All of it."

I hadn't even noticed she was standing in here. "It is terrible," I said. "Perfectly so."

She shook her head. "I don't understand," she said.

"Me neither," I told her. "Probably never will." I shuddered a little, thinking about the enormity of the situation we were in. A thought occurred to me. "You guys should probably know," I said. "Nessie's pregant again."

No one said anything for several seconds. "Oh. My gosh," Leah finally said.

"They didn't know," I said quietly. "Not even Jacob."

I heard the intake of breath. "Is everything okay?" Emily asked.

"They think so," I said. "It's hard to know." I shivered. "They cut her, right across the stomach. They had to put a bunch of stitches in."

"Perfectly terrible," Claire said, repeating me from earlier.

"Claire," Quil said. She turned to look at him. "When did you start acting more like an adult than a child?"

She smiled at him with one side of her mouth. "All of the times that you weren't looking."

"Are you fourteen?" Zach asked her.

"Yes," she said.

"That's what I thought," Zach muttered.

Zach was so private about his one ability, I sometimes even forgot about it. Seeing people's pasts could be as scary as seeing how evil, or how good they were. He was braver than me. Much, much braver.

"You've kind of had a crazy fourteen years…" Zach said.

"I know," Claire said. "But if it wasn't a little crazy, it wouldn't have been real."

I pushed my hair out of my eyes. "They bit me when I was fourteen," I said. I shook my head. That seemed much younger now.

"That's awful," Landon said.

I shrugged. "It would be awful no matter how old you are." I thought for a moment. "Zach, how old was Carlisle?"

"Twenty-six," he said automatically.

"And he's trying to pull off….?"

"About thirty- seven," Zach said. "I think it's working."

I scoffed. "No one would say anything if it wasn't."

"This is true," Zach said.

I turned toward Connor and Julia. "Where did everyone else go?" I asked them.

"They're just out walking around," Julia said. "They're back by the old cottage."

I thought about that cottage, and I thought about how much had happened before Zach and I had ever got here. It felt so natural to be with the Cullen's, I could hardly imagine them existing before Zach and I. But of course, Edward had met Carlisle well over eighty years before I was born.

"Do you ever wonder," I asked. "What it was like before we were here?"

"All the time," Connor said immediatley.

I shook my head. "That cottage…" I said. "I can't even imagine what it was like when they were renovating it. I can't even comprehend those kind of… emotions."

It was quiet for a few moments. Everyone was thinking. The eagles didn't necasairly know exactly what had happened before they got there, but they'd heard some of the stories.

"I couldn't've done it," Julia said finally.

"Done what?" I asked.

She chose her words. "I couldn't have gotten pregnant, turned against my family, been half killed, had my body broken, have a baby be ripped out of me, and then be turned into a vampire." She took in a breath slowly. "I wouldn't have been brave enough to try."

I stared at her.

"Yes you would've," Leah said. "If you were pregnant, you would've done anything you had to."

Julia turned to look at her. Leah didn't break the gaze.

There was a long pause.

"Maybe," Julia said. "Maybe."

"I don't think Bella saw it as being brave," I said. "I think she just knew what her choice had to be."

Julia nodded. "I know what you mean."

"I can't…" Zach started. He thought for a moment. "I can't imagine doing any of the things that Bella and Edward did."

"Neither could I," Connor said. "Until one day I was sitting in this kitchen, and I realized that it was happening to me."

"How…" I started. "How do you even begin to accept a fact like that?"

"It's not a choice," Connor said. "And that was the hardest part for me. As soon as I realized that what was happening was going to happen, the pieces started to fall into place."

I looked at Julia. "Were you scared?" I asked her.

"Yes," she said. "But only because of all the obstacles that stood in our way."

I shook my head. "It must've been tough."

"Sometimes," Connor said. "It was probably tougher for them than it was us, though."

"It makes you think about how much is actually possible," Zach said. "Because if I had never met any of you, I would've called all of it impossible."

I looked at Lyssie, changing the subject. "How are you feeling?" I asked her.

She smiled a little sarcastiacally. "Quite frankly," she said. She scoffed a little. "I feel terrible."

I nodded slowly, giving her the same smile back. "Nice," I said. "Glad we've got that covered."

"You'll feel better soon," Abbey said.

"I sure hope so," Lyssie said. "Cause I'm dying."

I heard a thud in the other room, and then two kids crying. Seth, who was nearest the door to the living room, peeked his head in to see what had happened. He walked into the living room and the cries became muffled. About thirty seconds later he came back carrying both of his three-year-olds, Evan and Elizabeth. They both had their heads down on either of his shoulders.

"You know what," Seth said. "Out of all the kids running around in there, it _would_ be our kids who smack heads."

"Wow," Abbey said. Seth passed her Evan, who had already almost stopped crying.

I sighed. "Let's do something," I said. "Something distracting."

"There's a guitar in that closet over there," Julia said. "I don't know who's it is, but I'll play it if they'll let me."

"It's mine," Claire said. "I left it here yesterday on accident. It's not very good though."

"Does it have six strings?" Julia asked.

"Yep."

"Then it'll work just fine."

"Do you play much?" I asked Claire as we walked into the living room. All of the kids were gathering around on the floor, getting a seat.

"A bit," she said. "I've just been teaching myself though."

"I taught myself," Julia said. "You don't neccasarily need a teacher to learn something."

We all crowded into the living room. I ended up right next to Julia, with Zach on my other side. This room had seen much less crowded days, but I liked it this way too. Julia took Claire's guitar and played one chord on it.

"It's not that bad," Julia said. "It's just a little old."

Claire nodded. "I got it for thirty bucks."

Julia laughed. "That's a good bargain. This could go for way more."

"I know," Claire said. "But the guy at the garage sale didn't."

"Nice," Julia said.

She started to pick out a melody, just strumming away at it. It was a song I hadn't heard before. The lyrics were priceless. She sang of fear, and of loss. It was beautiful. Her voice was the most precious thing I'd ever heard. It was kind of like an extra talent of hers.

She finished the song with a final strum. "So," Connor said. "When did you write that one?"

She smiled. "To be quite honest, I wrote most of the guitar part just now. I wrote the lyrics in my head about an hour ago."

"Wow," I said. "That's gotta be a record, even for you."

"Maybe," she said.

She immediatley went into a more familiar, upbeat tune of hers. It was one I really enjoyed.

Right on cue, at the end of her song, Connor's cell phone rang. He answered it beore the first ring was over. "Hello?"

"Connor," Bella said.

"Yes," Connor responded, even though he knew it wasn't a question.

Bella sighed. "I just called to tell you guys that everything is okay. Nothing has changed. They're both asleep."

"I'm glad to hear it," Connor said. He paused for a second. "Are you okay?"

"Not really," Bella said. "But I will be."

"Right," Connor said. "Do you know how long it will take for them to heal?"

"Its questionable," Bella said. "Nessie heals faster than Eila, but she was hurt a lot worse. I'm sure in a week they'll be doing alright."

"Right when we have to leave," Connor said.

"Yes," Bella said. "Right when we have to go back to being High Schoolers."

"You have one semester left at that place," Connor said. "I have three. No complaining."

Bella chuckled. "I know…"

"Well," Connor said. "See ya."

"See ya Con," she said.

At least they would be okay, I thought to myself. I guess that's all that mattered in the end anyways.


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER TEN**

A little less than a week later, the ultra sound machine arrived. Eila was feeling much better, and Nessie was as well. Nessie was definitey pregnant, she had been puking in the mornings and having trouble sleeping at night. Jacob told me she was definitley acting like she was pregnant.

We decided to set up the ultrasound machine in Carlisle's old office. No one really went up there much anyways since they only used it for storage.

Since I had let my family know that I was planning to go into medicine in college, Carlisle had started to include me in things like this. He had given me some basic text books to look at, and I was finding that I really enjoyed it. He had asked me to take down all of the notes during the ultrasounds today, but Bella would be helping me. We were basically just starting the charts on each of the girls.

Around eleven o'clock that morning, we finished setting things up, and told everyone we were ready for them. Carlisle was going to run the ultrasounds, but Edward and Abbey were going to help.

"Okay," Carlisle said as soon as everyone was up in the attic-office. "Who wants to go first?" He asked.

"Me," Nessie said.

"You don't count," Bella said. "Here," she said. "Fill this out." She handed Nessie her chart. "We wouldn't see anything on the ultrasound anyways."

"I know," Nessie said. "I'm just excited."

Carlisle laughed. "That's good, I guess." He looked at the other girls. "Who else wants to go?"

"I'll go," Mikayla said.

"Great," Carlisle said. He pointed to the cot that we had set up for the ultrasounds. "Go ahead and stretch out there."

Looking at Mikayla, I couldn't believe that she was actually pregnant. She was very young, and although she was more than a month along already, she didn't show at all.

Edward tossed Carlisle the ultrasound gel from across the room. Carlisle caught it absentmindedly. "Okay," Carlisle said. "Andrea, make sure you write down that this is her first pregnancy."

"Got it," I said. I jotted this in the notes section of her chart.

"Good," Carlisle said. "Alright then." He turned to Mikayla and Caleb. "This ultrasound is going to be very basic," he told them. "All that I'm really looking at today is where the baby is positioned. Future ultrasounds are going to get more vital information. Today, the most important thing that we might be able to find out is if you're having more than one baby."

"'Kay," Mikayla said.

Carlisle squirted a small amount of gel on Mikayla's stomach, and pushed the ultrasound wand gently into her abdomen. The screen looked pretty fuzzy to me, but Carlisle seemed to know what he was doing.

"There," Carlisle said after about a minute of searching. He pointed to the screen. "That dark spot right there is your baby." He looked for a second more. "Its sitting right in the middle of your stomach. That's good," he said.

Mikayla smiled. "I'm glad."

Caleb squeezed her hand. Abbey handed her a towel to wipe the extra ultrasound gel off with. "Okay," Carlisle said. "Moving on. Who's next?"

"I'm up," Amber said. She and Mikayla switched seats, and Edward handed me her chart.

For the next thirty minutes, we continued to do ultrasounds. Both Amber and Jocelyn were carrying their babies practically in their rib cage. Considering they were identical twins, it didn't surprise me that they would carry their babies in the same place. Carlisle told them that they would probably get quite a few broken ribs if the babies didn't shift down any by the second trimester. Lyssie went last. Seeing as she was usally a leader, I was a little surprised that she hadn't gone earlier on.

"Alright," Carlisle said. "Last one. You know the drill Lyssie," he said.

Carlisle squeezed the ultrasound gel onto Lyssie's stomach and moved with practiced moves over her abdomen. The hum of the ultrasound sounded like backround noise now.

"Okay…" Carlisle said. He rolled over Lyssie's abdomen with the wand and suddenly stopped at a point. "Hmph," he said to himelf after a second. He flipped the screen towards Edward and Abbey so they could see it but Lyssie really couldn't.

Edward nodded to Carlisle, and after a second, so did Abbey.

"What's wrong?" Lyssie asked. Her voice was very carefully controlled.

"Well," Carlisle said. "Nothing's wrong." He flipped the screen back around so she could see. "But you should probably know that you're pregnant with twins." He smiled at her.

"Really?" she asked. She looked nervous.

"Yep," Carlisle said. He pointed to the screen. "One of the fetuses is partially behind the other, but there's definitley two babies there."

Lyssie's mouth fell open. "Oh boy," she said.

Abbey laughed. "Don't worry," she said. "Twins are fun."

Lyssie looked at Michael. He looked calm, but that was normal for him. "We're in trouble," she said.

Michael nodded. "Yep," he said. He laughed. "This is going to be interesting."

"That's the spirit," Abbey said.

Carlisle turned to everyone. "So," he said. "Everyone is due at the end of July." He turned to Nessie, and raised an eybrow. "And I think that you're due in March."

"_I_ hope so," Nessie said. "Because I feel like I've been pregnant for a year already."

"Nice," Abbey said.

"It's awesome," Nessie agreed.

"If you have any questions," Carlisle said. "Feel free to call me, but Abbey will always be closer. We're leaving tommorow, and…" he turned to Edward, Bella, and me. "We don't really know when we're coming back yet I guess."

"We'll definitley come down towards the end of July," Bella said. "But I kind of want to see that baby before he or she is walking."

"Well," Nessie said. "We'll figure it out."

"We will," Carlisle agreed.

That afternoon, Zach and I were packing up our things to go home. We didn't have much, but we had been there for almost two weeks. "So," Zach said. "Are you ready to go back to being a high schooler?"

I laughed. "No, but I'm looking forward to going to back to causing a little bit of trouble everyday."

"It is pretty fun," Zach said. "But I'm going to really miss being here."

"I know," I said. "Me too."

I sighed, and wrapped my arms around him.

"What's this for?" he asked, hugging me back.

"I love you," I said.

He laughed. "I love you too."

It had been a crazy two weeks, with so many hard things. I hadn't wanted to deal with any of it, but I had been forced to. I knew that no matter what happened, no matter what anyone did to us, as long as I was with Zach, I would know _exactly_ how to deal.


	11. Chapter 11

Book Three

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

I was excited, but also also a little scared. It had been a little less than three months since our family had been in Forks, and it was spring break of my junior year at Bay High School. Cleveland was home now, but Forks would always be special to me. Forks was where I had learned what a family could really be, and how just because I was vampire didn't mean I was a killer.

About a month ago, I had gotten a phone call from Nessie. She was getting to the end of her sped-up pregnancy, and she was needing a little bit of help before the baby came. She was having trouble getting everything done while staying in work full-time, taking care of Eila, and having Jacob busier than ever. She needed an extra set of hands, and had asked me if I would be willing to fly down during spring break. I had agreed of course, but standing at the security gate of the Cleveland Airport with Esme and Zach not allowed to walk me any further, I was feeling pretty nervous.

I had never been on a trip by myself before, not when I was human or as a vampire. People were going to stare at me, just like they always stared at us. But this time, I was going to be alone. I hadn't been away from Zach for more than a few hours since the day I had met him. I was going to miss him.

I turned to face them. "Well," Esme said. "I hope you have a nice time, Andrea," she gave me a hug. "Make sure you take lots of pictures for us. Call whenever you want to," she said. "I love you," she told me.

"Love you too, mom," I said. It felt nice to call someone mom, and Esme was the best sort of mother you could ever ask for.

I turned to Zach, and Esme went to go call Nessie to let her know I was about to board my plane. "Come here," Zach said. He opened his arms wide for me. I fell into them greatfully. "Promise you'll call me every night," Zach said.

"I promise," I told him. "Its just going to be a little more than a week. You'll hardly have time to miss me."

He laughed. "I doubt that, but I'll pretend that I believe you."

I leaned up and gave him a peck on the lips. No need to be gross in the middle of an airport. "I love you," I told him.

"I love you too," he said. He kissed my head, and I waved good-bye to him as I walked toward security.

The flight was short, and I called Zach as soon as we were on the ground. He felt so far away, and it made me want to turn around and get on the next flight back to Cleveland as fast as I could.

Jacob, Nessie, and Eila were all waiting for me just outside the last security check point. I smiled and waved as I got nearer. "Hey," Nessie said to me. She gave me a hug, and I hugged her gently back. She was _very _pregnant. She looked like she could go any day. She definitley had that glow they always talk about.

"Hi," I said. "You look great," I told her.

"Thanks," she said. She smiled. "But I don't usually feel like it."

"Sorry," I said to her. "Maybe I can help with that."

"I sure hope so," she said.

Eila pulled at my pant leg and I bent down so that I was at her eye level. "And how are you miss big-sister-to-be?"

"Good," she said in her singsong voice. She wrapped herself around me. "I'm so glad you're here!" she squeeled.

I laughed. "I'm glad to be here," I told her.

After a quick hello to Jacob, we all headed for their car. Nessie carried herself with dignity considering she was roughly the equivalent of being nine months pregnant. She wasn't huge, but not nearly as small as she had been with Eila. She held Eila's hand on the way to the car, and we caught up on everything that I had missed in the time we had been in Cleveland.

All of the other pregnant woman were doing pretty well, even Lyssie. She was definitley showing more than the other girls, but Nessie said that she couldn't've gained more than two or three pounds that wasn't baby weight.

I sat in the back of the car with Eila on the way home, and we all talked and laughed.

"Oh," Nessie said once, halfway through a sentence. She put her hand on her stomach.

"You okay?" Jacob asked her. He sounded a little worried.

"I'm fine," Nessie said. "The baby's just been really active these last two days, and I'm getting little false contractions."

"Ouch," Jacob said.

"Just a little," Nessie agreed. "I'm mostly just uncomfortable." She held Jacob's hand.

Once we got to La Push, I spent the first few minutes unpacking some of my things. Jacob had to run patrol, and Eila went over to play with Paige, Leah's youngest.

Halfway through my unpacking, I heard Nessie gasp from the living room. I didn't say anything, thinking that it was probably just another false contraction.

"Andrea," Nessie said calmly.

I went into the living room. Nessie looked pale, even for her. "Andrea," she said. "I just went into labor; I'm positive of it. I need you to go get Jacob, I'm going to call Abbey." Abbey had been the OB/GYN at the Forks hospital for nearly four months now.

"Okay," I said. I headed for the back door.

"Andrea," Nessie said. I could tell she was scared. "Please hurry."

"Okay," I said. I sprinted out of the house and into the woods. I followed Jacob's scent, but he was fast. He had covered a lot of distance in a short about of time. His path wound back and forth, and sometimes circled back to right near the house. He crossed his own path, and I was having trouble finding him. It was hard not to panic.

I found him, running right next to Joel after about ten minutes of searchiing.

"Jacob!" I said loudly.

The big, rust colored wolf turned his head toward me. "C'mon," I said. "Nessie's having the baby."

Jacob was faster than I would've guessed. He was flying on the way back to house. He might've been a little faster than Esme even. By the time we got there, a good twenty minutes had already passed.

Jacob phased back quickly, and jogged calmly into his house. I followed quietly.

"Hey," Jacob said as he walked into his bedroom. Nessie was in there, as was Abbey.

"Hi," Nessie said quietly. Her face was pale, and she looked tired. There was a chair next to the bed, and Jacob pulled it up so that he could be right by Nessie. He grabbed her open hand.

"Where are we at?" Jacob asked Abbey.

"She's already at six centimeters," Abbey said. "You were right. Her labor does move way faster than a normal labor would. Her contractions are only about two minutes apart. This baby is coming fast."

"Okay," Jacob said, completley calm. "Over half there," he said to Nessie.

All of the sudden I heard this whooshing sound, and Nessie moaned.

"Okay," Abbey said. "Good, that was your water breaking," she told Nessie.

"Jake…" Nessie said.

"Sh, baby," Jacob said. "I'm right here."

I could see rather than hear Nessie's next contraction. Her body tensed a little and she whimpered. "Andrea," Abbey said. "Come here, I'm going to need your help."

I was shocked. I couldn't believe how fast Nessie was moving. This had all happened so fast…

"Do what I tell you," Abbey told me.

I nodded.

Abbey checked Nessie one more time. "Alright Ness," she said calmly. "Give me your best push on the next contraction." She turned to me. "Go push those pillows under her head," she told me. I did as she said.

Nessie was breathing hard. "Jake," she said. "Hold me…"

Jacob moved so that his chest was pressed against hers, and their foreheads were touching. "You can do it," he told her. "You're almost there…"

I was down by Andrea, and I knew that I was about to experience something life changing.

I heard Nessie moan as the contraction hit her hard and she pushed. She was so strong. She didn't quite crown on the first push. "Good," Abbey said. "That was perfect, one more," she told Nessie. "Push when you feel it."

The next contraction was upon Nessie before she had time to catch her breath. She sucked in air and Jacob pulled her head up so that it was pushed down onto her chest. He kept his arms around her. She was crying.

Jacob held onto her. "One more, " he said. "Our baby's almost here." He kissed her forehead. "Almost here," he repeated.

"Go again Ness," Abbey said.

Nessie's voice became a quiet yell, and I watched as the head of the baby slowly slipped out.

"Alright," Abbey said. "Try to pant a little Nessie, it'll slow the baby down a little. Hang in there. Count of three, you push. One, two, three."

Nessie moaned and pushed as hard as she could, and the small little baby slid right into Abbey's waiting hands.

"A boy," Abbey said.

His first cry was precious. It was strong, but beautiful. Abbey placed the baby right on Nessie's stomach. She was still crying, and I thought that Jacob looked like he might cry. Nessie pulled the baby up to her chest and held him there. Jacob gave his son his finger and he grabbed it with all his might.

"Hand me those scissors," Abbey told me.

I handed Abbey the stainless steel medical sciccors. She cut the umbilical cord and tied it off. "What's his name?" I asked.

"Cade," Jacob said. "Cade Rebel."

I smiled. "That's awesome."

Jacob smiled and pushed Nessie's hair off of her face. Her face was pale, and she looked exhausted to me. Jacob kissed her cheek. "You were awesome," he told her.

She smiled, and he wiped the tears off of her cheeks.

"Okay," Abbey said. "The placenta didn't come out with him, Nessie," she said.

"What does that mean?" Nessie asked. She looked worried.

"It's completley normal," Abbey said. "You're just going to have to push a little again. I'm going to push down on you're stomach to force it along. Don't worry, you might not even feel it. It's really soft. Just go ahead whenever you're ready."

"Okay," Nessie said.

Abbey pushed down, and soon the placenta slid out.

"That was strange," Nessie said.

"Did that happen last time?"

"Nope," Nessie said.

She held Cade close to her chest. "I can't believe he's here," Nessie said. "He's more than a week early."

"He's so small," Jacob said.

"He is," Abbey agreed. "But he's healthy."

"All you can ask for," Nessie said. She looked exhausted.

Jacob laughed suddenly. "You know what," he said. "Eila has no idea that Cade was even born."

Nessie giggled. "No one does," she said.

"Joel does," Jacob said. "He was running with me, so he probably went back and told Leah."

Nessie laughed. "I'm sure glad that Eila was already with Leah." She smiled. "This would've been hard to explain to her."

Jacob chuckled. "I should probably go get her."

"Definitley," Nessie said. "She'll be so excited."

Jacob slid out from where he was still holding her. "I'll be back," he said.

"I'll come with," I said.

"Okay," Jacob agreed.

We walked out of the house at a casual pace. "That was crazy," I said once we were a few paces from the door.

Jacob laughed. "Yeah," he said. "It really was."

"You were so calm though," I said. "I was freaking out."

Jacob shrugged his shoulders. "I didn't used to be like this. I used to panic during emergencies, and do stupid things"

"What happened?" I asked.

Jacob shrugged again. "I was put into more situations where I had to be the calm one." He smiled. "I guess I just grew up a little."

I cocked my hip. "Well you know," I said. "It happens to the best of us."

He laughed. By this point, we were at Leah's house.

She opened the door right as Jacob raised his hand to knock. She looked expectant. "A boy," Jacob said. "Cade Rebel."

Leah smiled and threw her arms around Jacob. "Congratulations," she said. "Joel came home and told me." She jerked her thumb into the house. "I didn't tell her anything."

Jacob made his way into Leah's house and I followed him. "They're in the girls room," she told Jacob.

Jake peeked his head around the door before coming in. "Knock knock," he said.

"Daddy," Eila said. She smiled. "What are you doing here?"

Jacob laughed. "Well I came to get you."

He squatted down by where the girls were playing with a doll house. Alexis was on her bed reading a book.

"Oh," Eila said. "Is it time to go home?"

"Yes," Jacob said. "But, there's someone there who wants to meet you."

Eila's looked at him. "Who?" she asked.

"You're little brother," Jacob told her.

Her eyes lit up, and she looked a lot like Jacob in that moment. "He came?" she asked excitedly.

"He did," Jacob told her. "About half an hour ago."

"Daddy!" Eila shreiked excitedly. She jumped into his arms. "Can I see him?"

"Yes," Jacob told her. "But you have to be super quiet so you don't wake him up. Mommy wants to see you too."

"I will be," Eila promised. She looked pensive for a moment. "What's his name?" she asked.

"His name is Cade," Jacob told her.

"Cade," she said. "Lets go see him."

He scooped her up into his arms. "Thanks Leah," he called as we walked out the door.

"Any time," she said. "And you better call me soon. I want to see that baby."

"Give us an hour," Jacob said.

"I'll be there," Leah told him.

Jacob carried Eila back to the house, and I trailed behind them slightly. Jacob was happy, I could tell. He had a son. The name Black would still be. It was one thing to father a daughter, but to father a son was something else entirely. I was happy for him.

When we got to the house, Cade was sound asleep, wrapped up and cradled agianst Nessie's chest. Nessie smiled at Eila. "Hi pretty girl," Nessie said.

"Hi," Eila whispered very quietly. She was staring with wide eyes at the bundle in Nessie's arms.

"Come see your brother," Nessie said. Jacob set Eila down, and Eila walked slowly over to the bed. She climbed up , and slid closer to Nessie. Nessie held her daughter with one arm, and tilted her other so that Eila could see Cade. Eila smiled a little.

"He's beautiful," she said after a minute.

Nessie laughed. "He looks just like you," she said. "Just more boyish."

Eila leaned down and kissed him very gently on the forehead. "I love him," Eila said.

"He loves you too," Nessie said. "You're his big sister."

Eila smiled. "I love you," she told her mom.

"I love you too baby," Nessie said. She kissed Eila on the head, and then Cade. Jacob sat down on the bed next to them, and Eila climbed onto his lap. He held onto her.


	12. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER TWELVE**

Nessie looked up at me. "You want to do me a favor?" she asked.

"Sure," I replied.

"Will you call my parents?"

I laughed. "Of course, but I'm sure that they'll want to talk to you."

She laughed. "Probably."

I went out into the hallway and hit speed dial number one; home.

Connor answered before the first ring was up. "Hello?"

"Hi," I said. "Its Andrea, can I talk to Bella?"

"Sure," he said. "But that's a strange request."

"Just give her the phone!" I snapped.

"_Fine_," he said.

"Hey," Bella said seconds later. "What's up?"

"Guess what happened about an hour ago?"

Bella was quiet. "I have no idea, what happened?"

I smiled to myself. "Your daughter gave birth to a little boy."

Bella's shriek was loud enough to be heard six towns away. I laughed. "Really?" she said.

"Yeah," I told her. "Cade Rebel."

"How's Nessie?" she asked quickly.

"She's fine," I told her. "It was quick," I said. "Jake almost didn't get here in time."

Bella laughed. "Can I talk to her?"

"Sure," I said, dragging out the word. I brought the phone into the bedroom and listened to them chat for a few minutes. Abbey was in the kitchen now, filling out paperwork. I missed Zach, and I wished that he could've been here for this. Actually, I just wish that he could've been here at all. It was very strange for me not to be with him. I kept turning over my shoulder to say something to him, then realizing he wasn't there. It was like nothing that had ever happened to me before.

I heard Nessie telling her mother good bye, and then I listened as Eila talked a mile a minute to her grandmother. She had _so_ much to tell Bella, and she seemed to be racing with her own thoughts to say it all fast enough. I chuckled.

People started showing up about forty-five minutes later. Leah and Joel came over first, but they left their kids at home with Claire. Charlie and Sue wheeled Billy over, and I thought the resemblence between him, Jacob, and Cade was striking. He looked like Nessie a little, but not nearly as much as Eila did. He was a very calm baby, he didn't fuss the entire time anyone was over.

Bella and Edward had decided to fly down to see the baby, since there wouldn't be a better chance all year. They would get here early tommorow morning. I was going to pick them up, and I spent that first night on the phone with Zach for a little while, and taking Eila hunting. Jacob couldn't really do much for her in that sense of things.

Eila was a good hunter, but she wasn't quite fast enough yet to get a few of the bigger animals. I helped her where that was concerned. She was quiet when she hunted, very focused, relatively primal. I was impressed. I took Eila home, and helped her get ready for bed. Jacob tucked her in, and I set up camp on their couch, waiting until about three before I headed off for the airport.

I was more than glad to see Edward and Bella when their plane landed, but I couldn't believe how young they looked when they walked off the plane amoungst business men and early travelers, having to identify themselves as unaccompanied minors to the security people. Little did anyone else here know, they were going to see their second grandchild.

I waved when they saw me, and they smiled. "Hey," I said.

"Hi," they both said at the same time.

"Long time no see huh?" I said sarcastically. I had left for the airport less than twenty-four hours ago.

Bella laughed. "I knew this was going to happen."

I smiled. "I thought that it might."

The drive back to Forks was fast, but that was mostly because I was driving. We got back to the house around seven thirty, and Jacob was the only one awake when we came in.

"Hi," he whispered from the kitchen.

He came around the corner and Bella gave him a hug. "How are you?" she asked.

"Awesome," he said.

"Where are they?" Bella asked, referring to Nessie and Cade.

"Still asleep," Jacob said. "But I'm sure she would want to be woken up to see you. I didn't tell her you guys were coming."

Bella smiled and she took Edward's hand. They went into the room with the quiet only a vampire would be able to muster.

They tiptoed over to her bed where she was sleeping peacefully with Cade on her chest.

Bella sat down on the bed and Nessie's eyelids twitched. Bella ran her hand through Nessie's hair. "Wake up beautiful."

Nessie was a light sleeper and her eyes flew open. She looked confused for a second but then broke into a smile. "Hey…" she said. "What are you doing here?"

Bella and Edward both laughed. "We came to see that little guy you're holding," Edward told her.

Nessie smiled. "He's so peaceful," she said, smiling. He was still asleep. "He only woke up once the whole night."

"Aw," Bella said. "He's a good boy."

Nessie propped herself up on her elbow and shifted Cade into Bella's arms. His brown eyes flickered open, looking around, highly alert. "Hello," Bella said to him. She shifted so Edward could see him to. "You look so much like your daddy," she told him.

"He has your nose though I think," Nessie said.

"What do you know," Bella said. "He has my nose and you don't."

"It happens," Edward said.

Bella shifted the baby into Edward's arms, but he still didn't fuss. Even when he woke up, he was content to just be there with his family. No matter what this boy's last name was, he was defintley a Cullen in that sense.

"I'm so glad you guys could come down," Nessie said.

Edward kissed the baby's head. "You couldn't have come at a better time," he told him.

I smiled to myself.

About a week later, we were on a flight back to Cleveland, and I was chomping at the bit to see Zach again. I felt like I hadn't seen him in year, even though I knew it had only been seven days. He met us at the airport with Carlisle and Esme, and as soon as we were past security, I ran into his arms. He picked me up off of my feet and spun me around. "Hi!" I said excitedly.

"Hi!" he said back. He swung me around again.

"I missed you," I told him.

He laughed. "You have no idea."

I planted my lips on his. "I love you," I told him.

He kissed me then. "I love you too."

The months leading up to the end of my junior year were spent taking finals and signing up for classes next year. Zach, Julia, Connor, and I all took our ACT's around the middle of April. Julia scored a perfect on hers with a thirty-six, Connor took a thirty-five, and Zach and I both got a thirty-four. Considering that they were the four highest scores in our school, and in the top fifty for the state, I wasn't going to complain that I missed a few questions.

The day of graduation, Zach and I had to be at the school by six so that we could get ready to play with the orchestra. I was concert master, so I had the resposibility of warming every one up and tuning them before our director came to run through the graduation march with us.

Normally, violins had the melody, but since I was first chair, I had nearly all runs intertwining with the counter melody. It was a very elegant version of the classic graduation march. I liked it a lot, and so did Zach.

We took our seats in the auditorium and me, Zach, and all of the other first chairs played concertos while everyone filed in. I watched Carlisle and Esme take seats with Julia and Connor. Soon, the graduates started walking in. I felt like we played the march a thousand times as the nearly six hundred graduates marched in. Alice, Edward, and Emmett came in one right behind the other. A few measures later, I spotted Jasper and Rosalie coming in with the H's. Bella was last, keeping to herself, surrounded by the S's and T's.

I finished up the last measure of the march, and put my bow down. The principle was already standing at the podium. All six of my brother's and sister's were sitting on stage, along with four other of the top students. The best in the class always sat on stage. Somehow, all six of them had managed to fall just short of valedictorian, keeping them out of the record books.

I was pretty bored during the speeches and awards. They were all about moving on and getting older. I was never going to move much farther than this, so none of it really applied to me. It would always be me and Zach, just like it always had been.

After graduation, we kept to ourselves and found our way back out to the car. It was a tight fit for all of us in the twelve-seater, but we managed. The ride home was light, and full of laughter. If all of life could be like this, there would be no more reason for tears.

My finals were disturbingly easy that year, and summer came rolling in right after. The days were longer, and the nights were later, but the rain and clouds were pretty consistent. My favorite thing to do was go out into the woods with Zach and climb the tallest trees we could find. Sometimes we fell, but that was fun too. I loved every minute of those days.

Around the second week of July, we started packing for Forks. We were planning on getting down there a few weeks before the babies would come, just in case. Abbey had been talking to Edward or Carlisle every week or so, keeping them updated on how everyone was doing. The births should run smoothly, but they were going to need as much help as they could get.

So far, the list of people helping was rounding out at about fifteen, with three people for each girl. Carlisle, Lauren, and Rachel were going to deliver Lyssie and Michael's twins. Abbey, Rose, and Kaylie were going to deliver Caleb and Mikayla's baby. Edward, Kim, and I were going to deliver Jeremy and Natalie's baby. Bella, Nessie, and Brooke were going to deliver Matt and Jocelyn's baby, and Leah, Emily, and Esme would deliver Lucas and Amber's baby.

We were going to deliver the babies at out old house, which is where Dan, Adam, Ricky, Landon, Scott, Alex, Bryan, Robert, Corey, Justin, Kaitlyn, Nicole, and Ashley lived right now. Before they had gotten married, Mikayla, Natalie, Jocelyn, and Amber have lived there too. Now though, they had moved into La Push with their husbands. Currently, the little cottage behind the big white house which had once belonged to Edward and Bella, was now owned by Lyssie and Michael. The youngest wolves, Nathan, Kyle, Wyatt, and Bryce all lived together under one roof, but I had a feeling that soon it would just be Bryce. Nathan, Kyle, and Wyatt were bound to propose to Kaitlyn, Nicole, and Ashley sometime soon.

Jacob, Nessie, Eila, and Cade met us at the airport. It was most of my family's first time seeing Cade in person, and he had grown quite a bit in the few months since I had last seen him. His resemblence to Jacob was ridiculous. He looked more like his father than Nessie looked like Eila. He was very happy to be cooed at for about ten minutes before we had to head to the car.

"So," Nessie said. "The girls look like they're about to burst."

Bella laughed. "I believe it. We were taking bets on the way here as to which day they would go into labor. I guessed tommorow, but Andrea guessed two weeks."

Nessie glanced at me and laughed. "Well, plenty of time for you guys to get ready I suppose."

Carlisle sighed. "I was thinking."

"Don't do that, it'll make your head hurt," Emmett said with a smirk.

Carlisle waved him off. "Ayways," he continued. "This is going to be a pretty big thing. Six babies being born most likely at the same time, all in the same room, with only fifteen volunteers. Its bound to get a little confusing."

"We're going to need a written plan," Edward said.

"Exactly," Carlisle said. "So I was thinking we should have a meeting with anyone who's going to be involved. That way everyone is on the same page."

"That's a smart idea," Bella said. "We'll have to do it soon though."

"I was thinking tonight," Carlisle said.

"I'll call around," Nessie said. "See if everyone's free."

By now we were to the cars. Bryce had driven up with an extra car so that we could all get home. Zach and I climbed in the back of the car, and Alice and Jasper found seats as well.

"Hi," Bryce said as we buckled up.

"Hello," Alice said. "How are you?"

"Excellent," he said. Bryce had realy bulked up in the last few months. He was a little bit taller, and much less gangly. He was gracing his teenage years well as far as I could tell. His driving was,thankfully, much improved as well. "So," Bryce said. "I guess you guys are going to be delivering some babies."

"Not me," Alice said. "You couldn't pay me to do that."

Bryce laughed. "Me neither, but it's whatever floats your boat I guess."

I wasn't sure if I would like delivering babies or not. I knew I wanted to be a doctor, but I wasn't sure if delivering babies would be my specialty. I was pretty sure I wanted to do something in the emergency room, but maybe this would change my mind.

When we arrived at Nessie's house, the changes since Cade had been born were evident. Their old spare room was now a nursery, and there was a swing in the corner of their living room now. According to Bryce, Eila had adjusted well to having a new baby in the house, and she was very protective of Cade. Sometimes Jacob and Nessie would wake up to get Cade in the middle of the night and Eila would already be in there to make sure he was okay. They got a good kick out of it.

After making a few calls, everyone decided that tonight would be the best night for the meeting, seeing as the girls could honestly go into labor at any moment. Carlisle, Edward, Nessie, Bella, Esme, Rose and I all piled into Nessie's suburban and headed over to the big white house around six. The only people there tonight would be those assisting in the delivery, so it would be a productive night.

When we got there, almost everyone else was already inside. Abbey wasn't there yet, but she was on her way.

"Hello," someone called as we walked in.

"Hi," Bella called back.

We joined the others around the large dining room table. Nessie hadn't been kidding; the girls really did look like they were going to burst, especially Lyssie. Though, in all honesty, she was pretty small considering she was carrying two babies almost full term. "How is everyone?" Carlisle asked as he slid his jacket off.

"Pregnant," Amber said. "Very pregnant."

There was a round of agreement. "I feel like I'm going to pop," Lyssie said. "Or be kicked to death."

"That's good," Carlisle said. "It means they're almost here."

"Lovely," Natalie said.

Abbey walked through the door just then. "Hi," she called, shutting the door behind her. "Sorry I'm late, dinner was a little messy tonight."

"You're fine," Leah said. "My kids were fed peanut butter and jelly, so you're already one step ahead of me on the good mommy scale."

I chuckled to myself, and Abbey sat down in the chair next to me.

Carlisle dropped a tab of paper on the table along with a few pens. "Okay," he said. "Let's get this show on the road."

Abbey leaned forward and put her elbows on the table. "Right," she said. "So who's up first?"

"Me!" Lyssie said. "I'm about to explode here, and I wouldn't be surprised if I went into labor in like thirty seconds."

"I don't see this in your future," Abbey said to her. "But I know what you mean."

"Okay," Carlisle said. He wrote Lyssie's name at the top of the first sheet of paper in red ink, and wrote his name, as well as Lauren and Rachel's names under it. He wrote _baby A_ on the first line and underlined it. "So do we know if he's breech or vertex?" Carlisle asked next.

"Vertex," Abbey said. "All of them are."

"Good," Carlisle said. He made note of that. "So," Carlisle said. "As soon as baby A is born, I'm going to hand he or she to Rachel." He nodded to her. "Your job is to wipe him off as well as you can and to open up his airways."

"Got it," she said.

"Good," Carlisle said. He turned to Lyssie. "Now, depending on how much time you have in between babies will really depend on how things go from there. You might have twenty minutes, or it might be more like twenty seconds. If the second baby isn't in the birth canal by the time the first one is cleaned up, you can hold the first baby for a while before you have to push again."

"Got it," Lyssie said.

"Alright," Carlisle said. "Now, the second baby's birth is going to feel a little different than the first's. If the birth's are consecutive, you probably won't even feel the second baby until the first baby is out."

"Okay," Lyssie said. "I'm good."

"Good," Carlisle said. He turned to Lauren. "You're going to help me cut the cords, and you'll probably help holding Lyssie's feet or head as well."

"Sounds like a party," Lauren said with a smirk.

For the next hour, we went through the details of each birth, answering questions and trying to make everything as organized as possible. Carlisle, Edward, Abbey, and Bella would be the people we were supposed to turn to if anything went wrong, but everything appeared to be in good shape, according to Abbey.

None of the soon-to-be-parents went home after the meeting, just because it was in their nature to stick together. We stayed around chatting for a while; there was so much to talk about.

Around nine thirty that night,I heard a long, loud howl come from somewhere in the middle of the woods. Following that was a short, quick melodic note that could only have come from Dan. Soon there were two wolves howling, and I knew that it must be both Jacob and Sam. Something was going on.

There was a slight moment of chaos in the house as people started going toward the back door and out into the woods, disapearing into the dark. I noticed that the pregnant girls weren't leaving. "I don't think I can phase," Lyssie said. "I haven't shifted in nearly a week."

There was a few quick agreements, and then they were gone. I noticed that Carlisle and Edward had left along with the others, I'm sure they were just going to see what was happening. The only one's left in the house were Esme, Bella, Rosalie, Lyssie, Lauren, Rachel, Abbey, Kaylie, Mikayla, Kim, Natalie, Nessie, Jocelyn, Emily, Amber, and me.

"I wonder what's going on…" Rachel said.

"Me too," Lyssie said. "It's been a while since all of us were together for something…"

I looked out the window and only with my strong eyes could I see the faint shadows and silohettes of the men and woman swiftly changing forms. It was too dark for anyone else to see, and the strong rain outside made it even harder.

Lyssie was standing near me, staring out the window into the blinding rain. She was biting her lip. "You okay?" I asked her.

She turned to me. "Actually," she said. "I'm pretty sure I just went into labor." She smiled slightly, but I could see that she was scared.

"Okay," I said, trying to stay calm even though I was kind of freaking out.

Bella spoke up. "Anyone else?"

"Just now," Jocelyn said.

"Me too," Amber said immediatley after.

"Oh," Mikayla said. "Me too."

Bella laughed. "How about You Natilie?"

"Nope," she furrowed her eyebrows. "Oh wait. I lied. That was definitley a contraction."

I laughed too. "And _of course_ your husbands just walked out the door."

Lyssie took in a breath. "Okay," she said. "I'm scared."

"Don't be," Abbey said. "We're all here, and the guys will be back soon. You guys might not even be into active labor yet, we'll have to see."

Mikayla sighed. "Well, I just had another contraction."

Abbey nodded. "Okay," she said. "They're coming pretty fast, but I'm sure you guys aren't dialated too far along yet. Just try and stay calm."

"I can go get the guys," I said. "It'll be fine."

"Okay," Bella said. She came closer to me so that only I could hear. "Make sure they're calm when they get here," she said quietly.

I nodded my head and raced out into the blinding rain, drenched in an instant. It only took me a few minutes to get to the spot where the wolves and eagles were, and when I arrived, they were all in human form. The rain was blocked by the trees a little bit here. Zach and Connor had come out too, along with Alice. "Hey," I said as I came up.

"Hi," Edward said. The stench coming from the wolves and the eagles was nearly overpowering, but I pretended not to notice anything.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Use your nose," Carlisle said.

I took in a whiff. "No offense, but all I can smell is that… well, stench."

Edward laughed. "Try harder."

I took in a deep breath through my nose and resisted the urge to gag, and focused on the other smells. I could smell the woods, the animals and flowers, moss, rain, blood of course, and something else. Something that could only be vampire.

I shook my head. "Who is that?" I asked.

"I don't know them," Carlisle said. "That's why we're out here. It might just be some passer-by, but you never know. We're trying to decide what to do."

I chuckled. "Well, I've got an idea. The girls just went into labor."

"Wow," Michael said. "That was fast."

Carlisle laughed. "Jeez, I'm glad we had that meeting tonight."

"Yeah…" Caleb said. He looked a little scared.

Carlisle sighed. "Well, I suppose we should head back then."

"I suppose," Edward agreed. Without another word they both took off toward the house, and I saw the husbands drift into the shadows so they could shift.

Zach caught my eyes. "You scared?" he asked after the husbands had left.

"Yeah," I said with a nervous laugh. He wrapped me in his arms and spun me around. "You'll be fine, I know it."

I laughed again. "I don't know why I'm scared._ I'm_ not the one giving birth."

Zach laughed too. "Good luck," he said, and gave me a little push towards the house.

I hustled away, and when I glanced back I saw him still smiling at me. I smiled to myself as I ran through the trees. Everything would be fine.


	13. Chapter 13

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN**

When I got to the house, it wasn't exactly chaos, but there was a lot of bustling about. Carlisle was thriving in the situation, answering questions and giving directions. He'd only done this a million times.

The girls had changed into gowns, and as of right now were talking amoungst themselves and their husbands. Abbey, Edward, and Bella were all upstairs and I could hear them bustling about, setting things up. The girls would be delivering on cots that sat low to the ground. "Alright," Carlisle said walking over to them. "Talk to me. Tell me about the contractions."

"Well what do you want to know?" Amber asked.

"Let's start with an easy one," Carlisle said, and I could see his natural smile tugging at his lips. "Do they hurt?"

"Yes," they all said at the same time.

"Alright," Carlisle said. "See, now we're all on the same page. How many have you had?"

"About five," Lyssie said.

"I'm on six if you count the one that happened while you were talking," Jocelyn said with a smile.

"Nice," Carlisle said. "That's a good start." He paused for half a second. "I think they're just about ready for us up there, so let's go on up and see how dialated you are, okay?"

There was a murmur of agreement. I followed them upstairs with the rest of the 'delivery team'.

"Alright," Edward clapped his hands together once. "Let's do this."

Carlisle, Edward, and Abbey were the only ones who would be checking the girls, seeing as they were the only ones who knew how. They were putting on plastic gloves for sanitary purposes.

"Okay," Abbey said. "Choose your cot." The girls each sat down on a cot, not paying much attention to which one they chose. "Who wants to go first?" she asked.

"I will," Natalie said. This surprised me a little. Natalie wasn't very outgoing, and I had never seen her as someone who would volunteer to do something first.

"Awesome," Carlisle said. "If you were two, I'd give you a sticker for being good."

"That's the most irrelative thing you've ever said," Edward told him.

"Eh," Carlisle said. "It happens."

"Not gonna lie," Natalie said. "I'm scared." I could see her trembling.

"Don't be," Abbey told her gently. "I promise it's not as bad as you'd think."

"Okay," Natalie said. "If you promise." She spread her legs, and held onto Jeremy's hand. I watched her face carefully. Her eyes were closed, so I couldn't see much, but her face stayed relaxed. Jeremy had both of his hands wrapped around hers, and I could tell he was worried about her.

Carlisle was fast, and it only took a few seconds. "Alright," Carlisle said. "Good job. How was it?"

"Okay," Natalie said. "Not painful, just uncomfortable."

"Glad to hear it," Carlisle said. "And you'll be glad to hear that you're already three centimeters dialated." Bella wrote that down on a chart.

"Wow," Natalie said. "That was fast."

"It'll slow down some, but that's not a bad start," Carlisle told her.

For the next ten minutes, the other girls were checked, and their conclusions were the same; all of the girls were dialated to roughly three centimeters.

For the next two and a half hours, the girls walked around the house, trying to get their labor to speed up and their water to break. I sat on the couch downstairs, not saying much, just watching and listening.

I was very impressed with how supportive the boys were. They were willing to do whatever their wives needed them to do. Lyssie's feet were getting terrible cramps from the walking and all the extra weight she was carrying, so Michael sat and rubbed them for her while she worked through contractions. All of the girls were very calm, and focussed, just as the situation called for.

Right about the time that the girls were going to get checked again, I heard a quiet whoosh and some whimpers. "Okay," Abbey said. "Sounds like someone's water just broke."

The same sound occurred again. "Oh… wow," Amber said with a wince. "Yeah. Mine just broke too." The other girls agreed. It was a little strange how all of these things happened at the same time, but then again, there was a very strong bond between these babies, even before they were born. They would spend their whole lives together, no matter what.

"Lovely," Bella said. "Let's get you girls checked again then. When the water breaks, the labor usually speeds up pretty rapidly."

I heard a quick intake of breath. Mikayla moaned. "I'd say that's defintley the case. That contraction was awful."

When the girls were checked this time, I noticed a difference. The girls weren't holding their husband's hands, they were grasping and squeezing them for dear life. It made me a little nervous.

"Okay," Carlisle said when they were all finished. "It's going to go pretty quickly from here. You guys are all at about eight and a half centimeters. So just try to relax, and talk with your husbands. We'll take care of everything, just focus on what's going to happen in the next hour or so."

We all started to put on our plastic gloves and get with our 'teams'. Edward and Kim were already standing together so I moved to join them. "Alright," Edward said to us, sounding very much like a coach giving a pep talk. "This should go pretty smoothly. They're going through another contraction now, so this might push them all the way to ten centimeters. Are you guys ready for this?"

"I'm ready," Kim said. "And excited."

"I'm ready," I told him. "And nervous."

He laughed. "That's okay, this is going to be fun."

After another twenty minutes or so of contractions, they checked the girls again. Sure enough, they were fully dialated, and pretty darn tired. It was just a little after midnight, and labor was hard work. I took my spot on the left side of Edward. "Alright Natalie," Edward said. "Your baby is almost here. Just a little bit more work and you'll be holding him or her. I want you to pull your legs up towards your chest, and push your head down. " I heard simialr directions being given around the room. "On the next contraction, just bear down as hard as you can for a ten count." Edward told her.

I heard rather than saw the next contraction. Natalie gasped, and suddenly she was pushing. Jeremy was holding her head up for her, and he was close to her, whispering into her ear. "Eight… Nine… Ten." Kim counted.

Natalie's whole body relaxed, and she opened her eyes to look at Jeremy. "Very good," Edward told her. "You should crown on the next one."

The next few minutes were almost surreal. I watched Edward calmly and confidently deliver a healthy, wide-eyed and screaming baby girl, and he placed it on Natalie's chest. She looked beyond happy. She held onto her screaming, squirming baby girl, shushing her and rocking her. Jeremy gave her his finger, and kissed her head, and then Natalie's head. All three of them had tears on their cheeks.

I turned to where Rachel was rocking a baby gently, and Carlisle and Lauren were right smack in the middle of delivering Lyssie's second baby. Soon though, all you could hear in the room where the cries of six healthy babies, and the quiet tears of ten overjoyed, exhausted parents.

I helped wipe off Natalie's baby, and put a diaper on the squirming little girl. I wrapped her up snuggly in a blanket, and Bella placed a hat on her. The same process was going on all around me with volunteers wrapping and diapering babies and keeping them warm. I brought Natalie and Jeremy's baby right over to them, making sure to hold her head up. She was calm now, and fast asleep. Jeremy took his precious daughter into his arms and held her for only a moment, and then passed her to Natalie.

"Well," Edward said as soon as the room had quieted down some. "That went well."

"Perfect, I'd say," Carlisle added. "Let's get some names written down."

Bella was already ready for him. She had the ever present clipboard waiting. Carlisle turned to Caleb and Mikayla, who were on the far left side of the room. "What is your son's name?" he asked them.

"Derek James," Caleb said confidently.

Bella jotted that down and turned to Jeremy and Natalie. "Alaina May," Natalie told her.

"That's beautiful," Bella said.

Matt and Jocelyn were next in the line. "Christopher Phillip," Matt told her.

"And how about you?" Bella asked, turning to Lucas and Amber.

"Miley Anne," Amber said softly.

"Gorgeous," Bella said. She turned to Lyssie and Michael.

"Jon Kevin," Lyssie said. "And Jayde Christine."

"Okay," Bella said. "Got 'em."

The scene was so perfect. Everything had gone down without a hitch, just like we had hoped for. There were six beautiful and healthy babies with nothing but futures ahead of them. This was one of the most memorable experiences of my life.

I stepped out into the hallway to call Zach. I knew he'd be waiting to see how things had gone. I dialed his number without looking and waited for it to ring. After four rings, the machine picked up. That was strange. Zach rarely didn't answer his phone unless he didn't have it with him. I dialed Jasper's number next, hoping that they would be together. Jasper answered before the phone was through the first ring.

"Hello?" he said.

"Hi," I said. "The babies were just born, and everyone is doing okay."

"Glad to hear it," Jasper said. "How'd Zach do?"

His question confused me. "Zach?" I questioned.

"Yeah," Jasper said absentmindedly. "Isn't he there?"

"No," I said. "Why would he be?"

Jasper paused for a second. "About an hour ago he said he was going to go over there and keep you company while you waited. He never came?"

"No," I said again.

I fought at the panic that was building inside me. "Okay," Jasper said. "That's a little weird…"

"Ask Julia where he's at," I said.

"She's not here," Jasper told me. "She and Connor went somewhere." He paused again. "I can go look for him. He probably just decided to hunt instead."

"Okay," I said. "You look, I'll call Julia."

"You've got it," Jasper said.

I was dialing Julia's number almost before he had hung up the phone. Zach wouldn't just disappear like this. Something had to have happened.

"Julia?" I said before she had a chance to say hello.

"Andrea," she said. "What's wrong?"

"Can you please tell me where Zach is?"

"Yes," she said, and was quiet for a moment. I heard her slowly take in a breath and let it out. "Actually," she said. "I don't see him Andy."

"What does that mean?" I said quickly.

"I don't know…"

My mind was spinning, trying to put together the pieces. Zach was missing… But that's all that mattered; Zach was missing. Zach couldn't be missing. Not my Zach…

"Andrea!" Julia said.

"He's missing," I said. "Something happened."

"Don't say that…" Julia said. "Focus. Come on, he could be anywhere."

"He doesn't just not answer his phone," I snapped.

"I know," Julia said.

Jasper was beeping in then, and I switched over to him without saying goodbye to Julia.

"Did you find him?"

"No," Jasper said immediatley. "Everywhere I follow his scent…" he trailed off. "It's like he ran in circles that lead no where."

I slid down the wall and fell to the floor. Jasper was saying something, but I couldn't hear him. The phone fell out of my hand. My mind was cloudy, I couldn't form a coherant thought. Memories were stabbing me in the temples… Memories of Zach when we first met…. Zach this summer… Zach just a few hours ago, telling me how much he believed in me.

Bella was downstairs now, talking to Jasper on my phone, with calm worry etched in all of her features. I couldn't hear, I couldn't see, I couldn't remember how to think. Zach was missing… Zach's scent led to nowhere…

Bella was grabbing my arm, and Carlisle, Edward, Esme, and Rosalie were all heading out the backdoor. Bella was literally yanking me up off the floor. "Stand up," she told me. "Pull yourself together…" But even her voice didn't sound confident in my ability to do that.

She was pulling my along behind her, and my feet were moving, but nothing was making sense. Zach couldn't just disappear could he? Vampires didn't just disappear…

Someone had Zach. Zach wouldn't leave me. Someone had to have taken him. I started to focus… Someone had done this. This was someone's fault…

The hatred that made my stomach roll and my vision blur was so overpowering that Bella had to squeeze my arm harder to make me go in the right direction. Wherever she was taking me, it didn't matter. I had to find this person… I had to find the person who had taken Zach from me, who was making my insides shred with worry.

Bella yanked me into a clearing in the woods, and my whole family was there. The wolves were showing up, the trees rustling as they changed into human form. Leah, Brooke, Kaylie, and Lauren walked up just behind me. They must've followed us here.

Someone was saying something but I didn't hear anything.

I felt a hard blow come from my left side and snapped into a defensive crouch, hissing at my predator.

"Get it together," Bella spat at me. "This is what needs to be done."

I stood up, shaking off the defensive feelings. She was right. This was what Zach needed me to do right now.

Carlisle was talking. "You're sure you followed every path he made?"

"Positive," Jasper said.

"I went over them too," Emmett said. "They all lead no where…"

"Okay," Carlisle said. He ran his hand through his hair, frustrated. "There has to be something…"

Alice slapped her hands to her sides. "I can't see _anything_…"

Suddenly, my cell phone was sending vibrations through my jeans. I grabbed it and looked at the number. "It's Zach!" I said. He was fine, we were all just overreacting…

Everyone went silent. "Zach?" I said.

There was a cold, cruel laugh on the end. "Zach?" It mocked. The voice was obviously male, but it wasn't Zach. "So cute, you thought he could call…"

"Who is this?" I asked. "Where's Zach?"

"He's right here," the voice said. "But he can't talk right now."

"What?" I said. "Why not?"

He laughed again. "Go ahead and show her why he can't talk you guys…"

I heard similar laughs, some female, some male.

Then, I heard the most terrible sound I've ever heard. It was a low, loud moaning, screaming. A sound that you couldn't get out of your head no matter how much laughter and music you heard after that. It grew louder, more agonized, and I just knew. I knew it was Zach.

Something snapped inside of me, something that I couldn't explain. "Stop!" I screamed into the phone, even though I knew it would do no good. I couldn't see anyone again, I was blinded by a murderous hatred. I could still hear that terrible noise though, it echoed through my ears and across my soul. "Stop!" I screamed again, this time more hysterical. I fell to my knees on the muddy ground, falling apart at the seams. I slammed my head on the ground, trying to get the noise to leave my ears, but the screams and that laugh were all to much for me. There was no escaping it…

I felt a hand on my back, and someone finally hung up the phone. His screams replayed again and again in my mind, and I could picture him, alone and terrified, being tortured. I couldn't do this…

"You _have _to do this," someone's voice reached me through my thick walls of greif. "Come on," she said. It was Bella. "You_ have_ to be brave."

The noise was still in my ears, but I pushed it as far back in my memory as I could. She was right, I couldn't help Zach like this. I had to focus.

The forest floor was cold under my knees, and the woods seemed serenely quiet after hearing his screams. I didn't want to look up, I didn't want to see the realization and terror written on my family's faces. I didn't want this to be true, I didn't want to accept this. But I _had_ to. Zach _needed_ me to.

I forced my eyes up, and I could see the fear in Carlisle's eyes. I had never seen him look like that before. His expression confirmed all of my worries; Zach was in danger, and no one knew what to do about it.

"We have to find him," I said.

"We will," Bella said from beside me.

"We'll have to look for him the old fashion way…" Connor said.

I snapped my head toward him. "What do you mean?"

Connor was thinking hard, I could see it in his expression. Connor's talent was to be logical, and he was trying to think of the most logical way to find Zach. But none of us had ever done anything like this before…

"We'll have to just go look for him," Connor said. "By hand, I mean. Julia can't find him, so there has to be some sort of sheild around him and whoever has him. I would bet that Alice couldn't see him either, even if she wasn't around all these wolves. We can't follow his scent… It doesn't lead us anywhere. Whoever has him has to be like… a physical sheild or something. The exact opposite of Bella."

"That makes sense," Edward said. He shook his head. "What's scary is that if that's true, we wouldn't be able to see or hear them either. They could be ten yards from us right now and we wouldn't know about it."

We all looked around selfconsciously. "That's crazy," Carlisle said.

"It's the Volturi," Edward said. "Nothing is too crazy for them."

"It's not the Volturi," Julia said. "At least not directly. I can see them right now, they're in Italy."

"It has to be them," I said. "No one else hates us that much."

Everyone was quiet for a while, thinking. "It doesn't matter who it is," Rosalie said suddenly. "We have to find Zach, no matter who it is."

"Right," Connor said. "So what I was saying was, since we can't really use any of our talents or even our heightened senses, we have to look for him by hand. We need a search party. We have to look for anything that might be his, anything that might lead us in the right direction."

"All hands on deck," Emmett said.

"Exactly," Connor said.

I was already on my feet, ready to start looking at anytime. "Emily can look too," Sam said. "If you really think that'll help."

"The more the better," Connor said. "She might catch something that you miss."

"We need to find somone to watch the kids…" Sam said.

"I'll call my dad," Bella said. "I'm sure he and Sue could take any of your kids."

"My dad too," Jacob said.

"Okay," Carlisle said. "I say we go back to the reservation and gather up anyone who can help, anyone who's willing to help. Let's all meet back here in twenty minutes."

Twenty minutes seemed like forever to me, but I knew this would benefit us in the end. I followed Quil to Sam and Emily's house where Claire had spent the night. Kaitlyn, Nicole, and Ashley had all been kicked out of their house when the girls went into labor, and Emily told them they could all stay over there with Sam to help with the kids. They must've left the kids with Claire when they had had to come out to the woods. Sam was right behind us.

When we got to the house, Sam called Emily to tell her what was going on, and told her to meet us at Billy's house where we were going to drop the kids off. I followed Sam into his house, with Quil behind us. Claire was sitting up on the couch reading a book.

"What's going on?" she asked as soon as we came in.

"Zach's gone," Sam said briskly.

Claire looked at me. "We'll find him," she said. I nodded at her.

"We need to take the kids to Billy's," Sam said. "We're going to go look for anything that might lead us to Zach, anything that could tell us which direction they went. We're just going to walk the kids there, it stopped raining a few minute's ago and it's not too cold out. That way we can just leave right from his house."

"Okay," Claire said. "Do you want to wake them up or do you want to try and keep them asleep?"

"Wake up Jenny, because she'll want to know what's going on. I'll walk with her and carry Brandon… Quil if you could take Alli, and Andrea you get Ryan. Those two won't wake up, they sleep like rocks."

"Okay," I said. I could feel the lack of emotion in my voice.

I followed Sam into the boys room, and I could hear their slow heartbeats and they're deep breathing. I found Ryan looking absolutley minature in his regular sized twin bed. He was wrapped up in his blankets, and I scooped him into my arms. Sam was right; he did sleep like a rock. His breathing didn't even catch as I moved him out into the hallway and waited for Sam to wake up Jenny. She was confused, but she listened to him and put her shoes on and wrapped her balnket around her shoulders.

Claire and Quil walked behind us on the way, and I could hear them talking.

"I want to help," Claire said.

"I know," Quil said. "Stay with Billy and help with the kids."

"Quil," Claire said. "I want to come with you."

"No," Quil said. "It's going to be dark, you might get lost."

"Quil," Claire said again. "I'm coming with you."

Quil didn't seem to know what to say. "Please stay," Quil said. "I want to know that you're safe."

"I'll be fine," Claire said. "I'll stick with someone else, but I'm done being left behind. I'm fifteen years old, you were hardly older than me when you started doing this, and I'm way older than Wyatt was when he first changed."

"You're more fragile," Quil argued feebly.

"I am," Claire said. "But I've got way more nerve than any of you will ever have."

Quil didn't say anything. "I can't believe it's been thirteen years since I first met you…" he trailed off.

"I don't remember life before you," Claire said. She sighed and was quiet for a moment. "You have to trust me, Quil."

"I know," Quil said. "I trust you with my life, Claire."

"Then why don't you want me to come with you?"

"Because," he said. "It's your life I don't trust you with."

Claire was silent. "I'll stay with you the whole time," she said. "I _can_ help."

Quil was quiet again for a while, and I could almost hear the wheels turning in his head. "I'm proud of you," he told her after a moment.

"I know," she said, and I could hear the smile in her voice.

When we got to Billy's, it looked like a relief center that you see on TV after a large disaster. Half of the wolves were here dropping off kids, and I assumed the other half were at Charlie and Sue's. Billy was telling everyone to put the kids wherever they wanted, and that he would take care of them. Jacob and Nessie were here dropping off of their kids, Cade was still sound asleep, but Eila was awake and holding onto Bryce like her life depended on it.


	14. Chapter 14

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN**

"Don't leave," I heard her tell him. "You can stay here." She was crying.

"I have to E," he told her. I could tell that he didn't want to leave her. "You can stay here with your cousins, everything will be okay."

"I'm afraid," she told him.

"You don't have to be afraid," Bryce told her. "Everyone's here, you don't have to be scared."

"I'm scared _for you_," she told him. "Please," she said. "Just stay."

He wiped her eyes and pulled her into his arms. "I can't baby," he told her. "I wish I could, but I can't." He held onto her for a while, then he kissed her on the head and let her go. "Stay here and take care of Cade," he told her. "Everything will be fine."

She was still crying, but we had to go. It had been almost fifteen minutes since we left the clearing. I ran out into the drizzle that was starting up again, not waiting for anyone else. I was the first one to the clearing, standing there waiting as the others arrived, some in pairs, some alone.

Our search party was huge, and if there was any trace of a clue, I knew we would find it. "Okay," Carlisle said as soon as everyone was there. "I think that it would be a smart idea to stay in pairs, just in case something happens. If anyone finds anything, we'll get a message around and meet back here. If we find nothing, regroup back here at dawn."

There were murmurs of agreement, and everyone paired off and started going in differnet directions. Bryce and I locked eyes and we went off together. He shifted into wolf form and trotted behind me, scourging the ground for anything that might belong to Zach.

I was looking for anything that was Zach's; something he was wearing, his watch, his wallet, anything that might belong to him.

We searched for hours, and I slowly began to lose hope. No one was finding anything, they hadn't made any mistakes. Zach's dissappearance was perfect; as if he had disappeared off the face of the earth.

It was breaking dawn when I finally saw something that looked out of place this deep into the woods. Something black was sitting on top of a pile of dirt and leaves, slightly camoflauged by the shadows of the dim morning. Bryce and I jogged over to it, and I bent down to pick it up.

It was a little black jewelry box, with only a little bit of dirt on it. I put it to my nose and it smelled just like Zach, I felt a surge of hope and looked around me hopefully. Zach had been here, or around here just a few hours ago. Then I remembered the sad truth; wherever Zach was, it would take a miracle to find him. I wouldn't be able to see him or hear him if I was standing right next to him.

My hope failed, and I felt myself falling into a deep hole that I couldn't see myself getting out of. Zach was gone… He was so far gone…

I didn't want Bryce to see me crying, but the sobs came over me before I had a chance to push them back down. My shoulders shook, and the sorrow that I felt made my insides was too much. I couldn't do this, not without Zach. And Zach was too far away for me to find him.

I held the little black box up to my face and wondered why Zach had been carrying this with him. It was something I had never seen before. I looked at the box for another moment, and then opened it.

Inside it was the most beautiful diamond ring I had ever seen. It was a silver band with a diamond woven around an intricate design carved in the metal. It was beautiful.

It was an engagement ring.

Something inside me changed at that moment. Somewhere out there, Zach was waiting for us to come and rescue him, and waiting to propose to me. He had seen out future together and I wouldn't let that future be destroyed. Not like this. Not by someone stupid enough to think they could mess with the Cullens and get away with it.

I snapped the box shut and hid it away in my pocket, even though all of the wolves would know about it by now. It was no one's business. Not yet anyway.

"Come on," I said to Bryce. "We have to get back anyway."

He phased at some point when I was ahead of him, and we arrived at the clearing around the same time everyone else was getting there.

"So," Carlisle said. "Did anyone find anything?"

"Just one thing," I said. I pulled out the box and showed it to him. "It smells just like him."

Carlisle shook his head. "This is so frustrating," he said. "He was just here, and now we can't find him."

I nodded. "It was a flawless dissappearance."

"Not quite flawless," Ricky said. "We found an unfamilar smell out here in the woods just hours before Zach disappeared. I can almost garuntee that whoever has Zach was out here before they took him. They could have been watching us all day for all we know."

I squeezed my hands into fists. "I'm not going to stop looking," I said with conviction.

"I know, Andy," Esme said. "None of us will."

The next two days passed by me in a blur. We all looked for Zach when we could, but it was a dead end trail. I refused to acknowledge this fact as I looked for him. I was literally in the woods twenty-four seven, never once going back to Nessie's house. I didn't say much to anyone, I just kept looking. Sometimes I would find footprints or maybe a shred of clothing, but nothing led anywhere.

It wasn't until the end of the second day that I started to lose myself.

I would run into things because I wasn't looking where I was going. I couldn't think about Zach and look for him at the same time. The pain that ate at me when I thought of him made me ache all over, and I could barely keep my feet moving. Sometimes I would see the others out looking as well, but I knew that they wouldn't find anything. I had scourged the woods and all the areas around it. I could smell hikers, but I had no desire to find them. My need for Zach was greater than my need for blood. That's why I was sure I was slipping away.

As I ran toward Port Angeles on the third day since Zach had been gone, I had a terrible revelation; we needed a cover story for why we weren't back in Cleveland yet. We weren't scheduled to start school for another week, but Carlisle was expected back at work soon. Zach had to be found quikcly. I wasn't leaving without him.

I heard someone coming up behind me, and I could tell from the weight of the footsteps and the smell that it was Edward. I didn't bother to turn back; he was probably just retracing my steps. But he kept getting closer and closer to me, and soon I heard him saying my name. I stopped in my tracks and wheeled around to face him.

He caught up to me quickly, and slowed to a stop next to me. He looked me in the eyes, and hesitated for just a second. "We had an idea," he said. He took in a deep breath. "I don't know if it's going to work or not, but it's worth a shot."

"Shoot," I told him, and my voice sounded dead and broken, even to my own ears.

"We're pretty convinced whoever has Zach is a physical shield, but we don't all have physical powers. We think that even if I can't see them , I might be able to hear their thoughts, or you might be able to tell if they're good or bad or not. It's going to be hard, and we're really going to have to focus. We'll have to try and pick out who's our family, and who's not."

He shook his head. "I _know_ they're in these woods Andrea," he said. "I just know."

I nodded my head, and I felt a spark of life in my chest. "This should be easy," I said slowly. "I don't know why I didn't think of it…" I was trying to sort through my rapid-fire thoughts. "Whoever has him has to be… horrible. I should be able to pick out where they are pretty fast…"

"The others are already waiting back in the clearing," Edward said. But by that point, he was already a hundred yards behind me. I was racing towards the clearing, already half tuned in on the positive and negative feelings I was getting. Right now, all I could feel was the positive from my family.

I got to the clearing just half a moment before Edward. He was faster than every one, but Julia and I were the closet to his speed. Everyone was already ready when I got there.

"Okay," Carlisle said. "So here's the plan; if you or Edward notices anything even remotely strange we'll all go over there immediatley and prepare to fight. I doubt they'll give Zach back to us very easily."

Hearing Zach's name made my suddenly coherant thoughts back down a little, and I wanted to go back to my mind-numbing state.I caught myself though, before I could fall too far. I had to focus.

We spread into two groups; one group with Edward and one group with me. I closed my eyes, and turned all of my strength into feeling the energy around me. I took at least five seconds at every step, feeling to see if the areas around me were changing; seeing if I could feel anything other than the good vibes coming from my family.

Finally, after the longest, most tense two hours of my entire life, I finally felt something.

The left side of my body was tensing, and I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up on end. I shifted to my left, and the negative feeling intensified.

I opened my eyes, and I saw nothing. I smelled no one. I heard no sounds.

I closed my eyes again and moved towards the feelings again, fighting the urge to turn around and go the other way.

"Get the others," I said.

I took another step toward the negative feelings, I felt whoever was there take a step in the other direction. They were trying to hide from me. The others were already gliding towards us, faster than the people hiding could move.

I didn't move, and neither did the bad feelings. The others arrived, and Edward looked like he was ready to fight at that very moment. "I can hear their thoughts…" he said.

He looked shocked. "I…" he was quiet for another moment. "I can hear Zach…" He turned to Carlisle. "They can see us, they can hear us… There's about thirty of them…" He paused for another moment. "They're right over there," Edward said, pointing toward a patch of trees. "Staring right at us."

"We don't want to fight," Carlisle said quickly, and I could feel the other vampires getting closer and closer to us, the bad feelings intesifiying expontentially. "We just want Zach back," he said, holding up his hands. "We will take him peacefully."

I wouldn't. I would rip these vampires to shreds for what they did to Zach. I could still hear his screams echoing in my head.

I felt like I must be in the very middle of the bad vampires. The negative feelings were overpowering me, and I could barely stand still. I fought the urge to bolt again, and focused on the fact that Zach was still alive, still having thoughts that Edward could pick out. I focused on the feelings, and tried to find Zach's good, clean spirit in the middle of all of these terrible ones.

There was one moment of utterly tense, suffocating evil, and then everything changed.

It was like a curtain had been opened as thirty or so vampires materialized all around me.

I didn't have to think. I knew how to fight, I had learned that while with Patrick and Mary. The numbers didn't matter.

I grabbed the vampire that was nearest to me and began to rip him to shreds. I had taken him by surprise with my fast fighting, and I used that to my advantage. This vampire wasn't a newborn, but he couldn't have been a very experienced fighter. I collided with another vampire as soon as I was finished with the first. This one was a much better fighter the one I had just killed. I felt his teeth go through my right arm in two places before I could break free. I circled him for just a second before I lunged at him. I got my arms around him and squeezed, breaking off his arms as I let go. I threw his arms as far as I could, and turned back to finish him off. I broke off his head, and shredded the rest of him to pieces.

Someone had started a fire, and I threw what I could of him into the inferno. There were already two others on me.

I was losing before the fight even really started. They were tag teaming me, and my brain was faltering in this chaos.

They both grabbed an arm, and I braced myself.

An animalistic roar came from somewhere behind me, and half of the wolf pack charged out of the trees. I heard a howl go up, and I knew that the other wolves and the eagles were coming fast.

The two vampires didn't stand a chance against the unfamilar wolves.

I rolled away from the fighting species and jumped swiftly to my feet. My eyes searched everywhere for Zach; I knew he was here. I could feel it.

A hundred yards away, I saw him. Lying on the ground, his mop of black hair a mess, he was there.

My mind lost all focus as I ran towards him. With every step I took, I could feel myself starting to worry. He wasn't moving at all. I felt feather light,and faster than the wind. I had to get to him.

I was twenty yards from him, screaming his name, trying to see if he was really okay. Just before I reached him, I felt a blow from my right side.

Out of nowhere, a dark haired vampire landed on top of me. "Not that easy sweetheart," I heard her say with an evil laugh. Then just as easily, she dissappeared. I couldn't see, hear, or smell her. I couldn't even feel her weight on me. I felt one of my fingers get ripped out of its joint, and I screamed in pain.

She appeared again, this time sitting right next to me. "Having fun yet?" she asked, and I could feel how evil she was. I was terrified.

She disappeared again and the rest of my figers were dismembered. I screamed, looking around for her, trying to fight an invisible enemy. The rest of my family was sprinting toward me, along with most of the wolf pack, but how could we fight a nearly undetectable enemy? How could we fight against someone this impossible?

The fight was evenly matched, even with all of us against her. My fingers were reattaching themselves slowly, and I watched as my family and friends encirlcled her, watching her dissappear and reappear in different places. They made the circle smaller, making it harder for her to escape without running into one of them.

My family was grabbing at thin air, trying to find something they couldn't feel. She reappeared faultily, almost unsure in her moves. Carlisle acted fast at one point, grabbing ahold of her and ripping her leg off. She wasn't invisible anymore, in too much pain to dissappear.

My family ripped her apart and burned her before she could even fully assess the situation.

There was one moment of dead silence as my family watched her burn.

Then suddenly, everyone was around me, calling my name, looking in my eyes to see if I was okay. I let them for a moment, and then I remembered Zach.

I bolted up, causing Julia to snap her head out of the way. I looked to where Zach was lying, already with Carlisle and Edward. I pushed myself off the ground and ran towards him, only a hundred feet from where I was laying.

I fell to my knees next to him, sobs of joy already shaking my body. His eyes met mine, and in that instant, I knew he would be okay.

I held his face in my hands, saying his name over and over again, unbelieving that he was actually here. Finally, after what seemed like a life time, he said something. "Andrea," he said. His voice sounded weak and broken, but clear. I laughed at this, overjoyed.

"I thought I'd lost you," I told him, brushing his hair out of his eyes. I could see a knew scar on his forehead, clearly made from vampire teeth.

"I thought I'd lost me," Zach said, and in his eyes I could see the hell he had lived through.

I heard footsteps behind me then, and I turned with the rest of my family to see who was behind us.

What I saw made my mouth fill with venom, and my muscles tense with hatred. I crouched defensively in front of Zach.

The Volturi and some of their guard sauntered toward us calmly, as if nothing had even happened. I hissed feircely, as did some of my family.

"Peace," Aro said. "We come in peace. We must talk."

"No, Aro," Carlisle said. "You did this…" he gestured to Zach, and to the burning piles of vampires. "You do not come in peace."

Aro shook his head woefully. "No, Carlisle," he said. "My brothers and I were not a part of this."

"But you knew!" Alice accused sharply, and I could see that she had just put the pieces together. "You knew who this was, and what they were doing. You allowed it."

Aro put his hands together. "What you say is true. The Volturi allow many things though. Many things. We are not dictators."

There was a second of stunned silence. "Why, Aro?" Carlisle asked, and I could tell he was hurt by his old friends decision. "Why would you allow this?" He gestured to Zach again.

Aro put his hands down and took a deep breath. "Our proposal from just over a year ago still remains."

I couldn't believe that he had the nerve to still call it a proposal, as if they were giving us a choice.

Something inside of me snapped. I hissed, and jumped out of my defensive crouch. I stormed toward Aro, stopping just in front of Carlisle.

"You are done," I told Aro. "You are _so_ done." I slapped my hands to my sides in fury. "Don't speak," I said, surprising even myself with my sudden lip. "I'm talking." I took in a deep breath, sorting my thoughts in my head.

I pointed an accusatory finger at them. "You used to be people," I said. "You were people with families, and friends, and futures, and dreams, just like we were." I took in another breath. "You had that taken from you. We _all_ did. It wasn't fair, it wasn't in your plans! It still isn't."

I shook my head, trying to see if I was getting to them at all. "And you've become this…" I spread my arms out, showing them the piles burning to their ends. "You've become rulers of a fighting world, rulers who don't protect those they rule." I shook my head at them again. "You've killed people," I said. "Innocent people. People who thought they could trust you, people who thought they could turn to you when they were in need."

I slammed my foot into the ground, making it sound like a thunderstorm. "You attacked someone weaker than you!" I said, thinking of Nessie and Eila. "You attacked a _baby_! Someone too weak to even stand up for herself. You tore her apart!"

I glanced at my family for a second and saw how shocked they were at what I was saying. I ignored them. I pointed at Zach. "You did that!" I snapped at them. "You allowed someone who was kind, and peaceful, and whole to be tortured!"

I was yelling now, so I checked myself and quieted my voice again. "Look at yourself in the mirror some day," I said to all of them. "Really look at youself, and ask yourself if who you are is someone you would want to be ruled by. Ask yourself if you're someone your parents would want you to be friends with."

I could feel the emotion building in my throat, and I rubbed the rain off of my face. "Come on," I said, holding my arms out to them. "Dig deep," I said. "Go back to that person you used to be, and ask yourself those questions. Ask yourself how you can justify doing this," I gestured to Zach again. "Ask yourself how you can justify doing this just to get what you want."

Something in Aro's eyes was changing. I could see it as I talked. The hard, glazed over look that he had in his eyes was disappearing, and replacing it was a revelation. He had really heard me, and the effect of my speech was raw in his eyes.

For a few long moments, all I could hear was the rain. Then finally, Aro spoke. "You are so young," he said quietly, and the hurt in his voice was obvious. "Yet so wise," he said. He shook his head, as if clearing his mind. "We have been acting foolishly," he said, turning to his guard. "This young one is right. We have been exceptionally careless…" He shook his head again. "We must consult."

He, Caius, and Marcus came together then. Their guard didn't move, didn't flinch, but I knew that my speech had effected them too. I held my breath, hoping for something I didn't think was possible. The Volturi would never apologize for the terrible things they had done, they were far too proud for that. But I wanted the Volturi to promise me, absolutley garuntee me, that they would leave our family alone once and for all.

The three members of the Volturi talked for a long time. They kept their heads bowed, speaking in low tones that I couldn't hear. Aro held each of their hands, knowing what their thoughts were. I stood tensed, the whole time.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the Volturi turned to face us again. I looked at Edward, and his eyes were dancing.

Aro stepped forward slightly. "We can't undo what's been done," Aro said. "But today, I can apologize for the crimes the Volturi has committed against your family. You've laid before us the truth, and we were forced to acknowledge it. I can promise that from this day on, as long as I am still on this earth, there will be no more trouble between us. The way we govern may not change, but this family will not have any more conflict with us. I can garuntee that. I sincerely hope that one day we can meet again as friends."

I was almost too stunned to speak. "Perhaps," I said a moment later. "If one day you prove to be friends again."

Aro nodded. "Ask that brother of yours," he said, pointing at Edward. "I sincerely apologize for the difficulties we have imposed upon you."

And just like that, led by Aro, the Volturi and their guard began to retreat back into the woods. Jane, who followed directly behind Caius, Marcus, and Aro, looked stunned. Most of the guard looked that way. This was unlike anything they had ever experienced before. Something was changing in the vampire world, and they would just have to hold on tight while it did.

We stood there silently for a long time, long after their footsteps dissappeared, long after we couldn't smell them anymore. The remains of the vampires who had held Zach captive smoldered at my feet.

"They're gone," Edward said.

I turned to face him. "Did they mean what they said?" I asked.

He nodded his head slowly. "Yes," he said with some trepidation. "They really will leave us alone." He shook his head. "You really got to them today, Andrea." He paused. "You got to them more than I thought would be possible. I don't know how much they'll change the way they govern, but something clicked in Aro's head today. He can remember his childhood, and his parents. He knows that what they're doing is wrong. He knows that _he_ was wrong."

"So…" Alice said. "They're gone… for good."

My family errupted into cheers, hugging each other and high-fiving the newly-human-again wolves and eagles. I wanted to throw my hands in the air and shout for joy. The Volturi were gone for good, and I had Zach back.

I ran to him then, skidding across the muddy ground as I fell to my knees by his face, almost colliding with him. I put my face right by his, looking into his eyes.

"Andrea," he said for the second time that day.

"Zach," I said, seeing the fear of the last two days written all over his face.

"Stay, okay?" he said. "Just stay."

"I will," I promised, wiping the mud and rain off his face. "I promise, I will."

He reached his hand out to me feebly, and I grabbed onto it. I leaned toward him then and kissed his lips, righting the whole crooked world. He held onto my hand like it was a life line, squeezing it as hard as he could. I pulled back from him then, looking him over to see if he was okay.

His injury's were obvious, and they made my mouth fill with angry venom.

He was bitten everywhere. I could see how they had hurt him, and I could hardly stand it. I wanted to go dig through the ashes of that dark-haired cocubine and burn them again. I couldn't see how anyone could do something so inhumane for such lame reasons. I balled my left hand into a fist, not bothering to try and move the hand Zach was holding.

"I'm okay," he said, noticing that I was looking at his injury's. "I'll be fine."

I shook my head. "No," I said. "You're not okay, Zach."

He nodded slowly. "But I will be."

I smiled at him, wishing I could take the pain away. "I know."

The next few hours passed by in a blur for me. We brought Zach back to Nessie's house, and I stayed with him there, talking to him. He was traumatized. They had torn all the fingers off of both of his hands, making fun of him as they did so. They would come up and bite him, just for the fun of watching him wince and squirm in pain. All of the vampires who had helped the Volturi were very, very sadistic.

"Her name was Delilah," Zach told me. "And the group of vampires that was with her were a mixture of many different covens." He shuddered as the venom flowed through him, still healing. "They were all in debt to the Volturi from what I could piece together. This was what they had to do to pay them back…"

I was quiet for a moment, thinking. "Who was Delilah?" I asked.

"She was very mysterious," Zach said. "She was the mastermind behind all of this though, the physical shield. I believe that she was the one the Volturi had round up all of these vampires. Though if Alice couldn't see, Aro, Caius, and Marcus had to have very minimal parts in this." Zach shuddered again, wincing. I stroked his arm gently, trying to comfort him. "She was crazy…" Zach said. "The others, they were just trying to stay alive, knowing they were in debt to the Volturi."

I closed my eyes. "How terrible," I said.

Zach nodded to himself. "I could see you," he said suddenly. "When you all were looking for me…" he trailed off. "She was very good with her sheild, never allowing any of you in. She kept it molded right around us. If you would've moved too fast for her, you would've stepped right on top of me a few times." He shook his head. "You were walking right through us," Zach said. "All of you were. You couldn't feel us, see us, or hear us, so you had no idea." Zach shuddered again. "I didn't think you would ever find me…"

"Oh Zach…" I said. I leaned in close to his head, putting my cheek against his. "I never would've stopped looking."

"I know," he said. "I know."

He turned his head slightly to kiss me on the cheek. "You know," he said. "I do believe I saw you find something of mine."

I played dumb. "Oh really?" I said. "I can't imagine what it is."

He smiled, and I turned my head so that our foreheads were together. "It was in a little black box," he whispered.

I slid the case out of my pocket and into his open hand. His dark eyes were burning into mine, and I could feel how much I had missed him when he was gone. I held my breath, knowing that now was a moment that would define the rest of my life.

Zach took my hand gently, and I heard the box flip open. "I love you," he said.

"I love you too," I told him.

He kissed me then, slow and sure, and then pulled back. "Would you please, do me the honor of marrying me?"

I smiled softly. "Of course," I said.

And then I kissed him, and in that kiss I could see our futures together. I could see us on our wedding day, me in a white dress, him in a tux. I could see us on our ten year anniversary, with a million more experiences under our belts. I could see us a hundred years from now, with so much known about each other,and so much more still to learn.

As we broke apart, I heard him laugh. "I'm so happy," he said.

I laughed too. "You have no idea…"

He sighed, and I pecked him on the lips. "So when do you want to get married?" he asked, half-joking.

"Tonight," I said. "Let's go to Vegas."

He laughed. "Only one problem," he said. "We still need to graduate High School."

I chuckled to myself, and thought about all the possibilities that lay ahead of us.

Exactly ten months later, I was in my room in the Cleveland house with Esme, Bella, Rosalie, Alice, and Julia.

It was my wedding day.

After a hectic senior year of planning and ordering, shopping and buying, and loving and laughing, it was finally here. Zach, Julia, Connor and I had gotten our diplomas about a month ago, and today was the day I had been looking forward to for my whole life.

The wedding was scheduled to start at two o'clock this afternoon, and the only people we had wanted there were the wolves, eagles, our family, and the Denali's. Everyone had flown down here for the wedding, and we would be leaving for our honeymoon early tommorow morning. Zach was in charge of the honeymoon, so I had no idea where we were going.

Around noon, I pulled my wedding dress on. It had a fitted,beaded, halter top and it flowed down to the floor at my hips. My train wasn't short, but not overly dramatic. It was perfectly simple. I was using Julia's veil, so that was something borrowed. The dress was new; and I was wearing the same pair of shoes I had worn at Nessie's wedding. They were a pair of white flats; I didn't want to wear heels. It was just a little spin I had put on the wedding. The bra I was wearing had a blue charm hanging off of it. I'm not sure if that counts, but I was going to pretend that it did.

Rosalie and Esme had done my hair for me. They had curled my dirty blond hair loosely so that it hung in beautiful waves around my shoulders. They had pinned it back at the crown just enough so that the clip of my veil could be hidden. Alice and Bella had done my make-up, making it look incredibly natural, yet accenting every aspect of my face. My eyes were golden, thanks to the bachlorette party they had thrown me the night before. It had been a ton of fun.

Nessie was downstairs playing the music for the wedding. As it neared two o'clock, I could hardly wait. I hadn't seen Zach since the morning before, and I couldn't wait. I was beyond excited. Carlisle met me at the top of the stairs around one-thirty, golden-eyed and smiling. Esme, Alice, Rosalie, and Bella took their seats just before two o'clock, and the music started. Julia descended the stairs of the Cleveland house gracefully, cascading her way down the stairs and through the aisles of our family and friends. The bright blue of her dress stood out perfectly against the brown walls of the living room, where the ceremony was taking place.

"Ready?" Carlisle asked me, holding out his arm.

I nodded. "Of course."

I took hold of his arm, and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank-you," I whispered in his ear. "For bringing us to this point. I haven't regretted a day I've been here."

Carlisle smiled. "I'm glad it was worth it," he said. "And I haven't regretted a day since you found us in the forest." He pushed my chin up with his hand. "You keep that head up kid, it's your wedding day," he said with a chuckle.

I heard my que in the music, and we began our descent down the stairs. I heard everyone stand for the bride, and with a rush of joy I realized that the bride was me. I kept my eyes down on the way down the stairs, holding tight to Carlisle's arm. I looked up when I got to the bottom of the stairs.

I found Zach immediatley, standing at the end of the aisle, waiting for me. He was smiling, Connor standing next to him, both of them with their hands crossed in front of them. Zach's eyes were dancing, overpowering the ghosts of last summer's events. I could see the raw emotion in his eyes, so happy is was hard to look at. I had never seen him like this.

He was a pale angel, his smile reaching deep into his eyes as Carlisle placed my hand in his. Carlisle took his desiganted seat, and the audience sat. Zach and I turned and faced the preacher, and Nessie killed the music beautifully.

Our vows were simple, with nothing intricate or different thrown in. I slipped the ring on Zach's finger and promised him forever with two simple words. My frozen heart melted as he said 'I do', and he swore me his with a metal band.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife," said the preacher. "You may kiss the bride."

I leaned toward Zach and our lips met, binding us together and making my head spin.

He was the one who pulled back as everyone cheered, and Nessie started up on the piano again. I smiled sheepishly at him, and turned to face our family and friends as they came toward us for congratulations. I was swept into what felt like millions of hugs, barely noticing the difference between the cool, hot, and sweet-smelling hugs of all of those who loved us.

This was the start of something very good.


	15. Chapter 15

**Epilougue: Summer**

That summer, our whole family was taking a trip to Isle Esme. Zach had ended up taking me to a secluded house in northern Alaska for our honeymoon. It had been an amazing two weeks of privacy and being able to be together tweny-four seven. We had gone snow mobiling, dog-sledding, and sight-seeing. It was great. I had seen Zach like never before, and I had found that my heart had found even more ways to love him.

The trip to Isle Esme had been suggested by Carlisle a few months before the wedding. We had all been right in the middle of the school year at that point, and we all willingly gave our consent. We were going to be there for the whole month of July, which is why we had started planning so early.

Our flight was scheduled to leave at two in the morning on July first; not a popular time for traveling. Zach and I had managed to fit all of our stuff into four suitcases, one for each week. We didn't cause as many stares as normal in the airport, seeing as most of the passengers were jet lagged and tired. Zach and I smiled at each other as we got through security without the security guard paying any attention to us.

The flight to Brazil was long and boring considering we had to pretend to be asleep for most of it. Zach and I listened to his ipod though, and I think we all did a relatively convincing job of sleeping.

Once at the docks, we were all practically bouncing with excitement. It was just reaching sundown in Brazil, and it was just a boatride to Isle Esme from here.

Rosalie and Edward drove the boat to the island, and we all laughed as Emmett almost pushed Connor over the edge. It was a very lively boatride.

"So," Carlisle said once we all got unpacked at the house. I had never been to Isle Esme before, but I had seen pictures. It was even more beautiful in person. "What do you guys want to do first?"

"Truth or dare," Julia said immediatley.

"I'm in," Emmett said. I laughed at our childish game, but joined in without hesitating.

With a bit of reluctance, everyone else agreed as well. We all formed a circle in the living room. Carlisle was up first, with Edward the one questioning him. "Truth," Carlisle said before Edward could even ask.

Edward got a quizical look on his face. "Is it true that in ninteen thirty-two you and Esme had sex in my room when I was out hunting?"

"Yes," Carlisle said without missing a beat.

Edward made a disgusted noise. "Aw…" he said. "I was really hoping you said no."

I laughed evily at his disgust. I was next. "Truth or dare?" Carlisle asked me.

"Dare," I said, sounding devilish.

"I dare you to play the rest of the game in your underwear."

I had one moment of hesitation before I stood up and kicked off my shoes. I pulled my socks off and stripped down until I was standing there in nothing but my undergarments.

I sat down again, next to Zach. "Game on," I said.

The rest of the game developed into more and more wild dares and many less truths. By the end of the game, Emmett and Rosalie had switched clothes, Alice was blindfolded, Bella and Edward were dared to wait underwater until the game ended, Jasper was standing on his head, Connor had done a relatively disturbing stripper dance, Julia was trying to lick Esme's face, Zach was wearing a bra of mine, and Carlisle was sitting calmly on the floor with nothing but his dignity left. He was the smart one, only choosing truths.

After the game had ended, we all went off in our sepereate directions. Zach and I put our own clothes back on, and decided to take a walk on the beach, watching the sun rise.

"That was a pretty crazy game," Zach said.

I laughed. "That was ridiculous. Poor Esme didn't even pick dare and she got roped into that dare with Julia."

Zach laughed. "That was pretty bad," he agreed. "And Connor…" he trailed off, and we both burst into laughter. "I'm going to have that mental image in my mind for the rest of my life."

I laughed some more. "I think we might know how Edward feels now…"

"Mm," Zach said.

We sat down once we got to the edge of the water, sitting just out of reach of the tide as it came in.

"You know," Zach said, running his hand through my hair as we watched the sun. "You're pretty beautiful."

I turned to him and kissed him on the cheek. "You're not so bad yourself Mr. Cullen."

He chuckled to himself and pecked me on the lips. "I love you," he said.

"I love you too," I told him.

And in the end, that was all that mattered wasn't it? Zach and I had gone through a lot together in the past six years. I knew him better than I had ever known anybody, and he knew me better than anyone did. We had seen a lot of bad, but we had seen a lot of good too. Together, we had worked through the bad parts, and made enough memories along the way to last us forever. We had faced our demons, and had conquered them. I had stood up against something I was terrified of, and he had held his ground when it would have been so much easier just to give in. In my years with the Cullen's though, I had learned something. Those feats were not anything heroic, or anything impossible. Just like choosing not to kill, and choosing the right way over the easy one wasn't anything heroic or impossible.

That was just, to state it quite simply, how to deal.

**THE END**


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